Telemedicine had no convincing effect on quality of life , mortality or hypoglycemia .
INTERPRETATION : Compared with usual care , the addition of telemedicine , especially systems that allowed medication adjustments with or without text messaging or a Web portal , improved HbA1C but not other clinical ly relevant outcomes among patients with diabetes
BACKGROUND : Telemedicine , the use of telecommunications to deliver health services , expertise and information , is a promising but unproven tool for improving the quality of  diabetes care  .
We summarized the effectiveness of different methods of telemedicine for the management of diabetes compared with usual care .
Effectiveness and safety of a glucose data-filtering system with automatic response software to reduce the physician workload in managing type 2 diabetes
We conducted a r and omized controlled trial to investigate the efficacy and safety of a system for online glucose monitoring of type 2 diabetes patients . The software automatically filtered the self-monitored blood glucose data to reduce physicians ' time . In the control group , the physicians had to contact the patients manually . We measured the time spent by physicians for online management  in a 24-week study . Seventy-nine patients were recruited .  The frequency of physicians ' online monitoring of the patients was decreased by 55 % in patients with HbA1c ≤ 6.5 % and by 29 % when HbA1c > 6.5 % ( P < 0.01 ) . Physicians ' log-in time was reduced by 67 % and 55 % in patients with HbA1c ≤6.5 % and > 6.5 % , respectively ( P < 0.05 ) . HbA1c levels were maintained at < 6.5 % during the study period in both groups . The study showed the efficacy and safety of the  software for online communication  in diabetes management . The results suggest that it could improve the cost-effectiveness of online communication systems and form the basis of future clinical applications
Telemedicine had no convincing effect on quality of life , mortality or hypoglycemia .
INTERPRETATION : Compared with usual care , the addition of telemedicine , especially systems that allowed medication adjustments with or without text messaging or a Web portal , improved HbA1C but not other clinical ly relevant outcomes among patients with diabetes
BACKGROUND : Telemedicine , the use of telecommunications to deliver health services , expertise and information , is a promising but unproven tool for improving the quality of  diabetes care  .
We summarized the effectiveness of different methods of telemedicine for the management of diabetes compared with usual care .