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 .
Evaluation of a mobile phone telemonitoring system for glycaemic control in patients with diabetes
We conducted a r and omized controlled trial using mobile health technology in an ethnically diverse sample of 137 patients with complicated diabetes . Patients in the intervention group ( n = 72 ) were trained to measure their blood glucose with a sensor which transmitted the readings to a mobile phone via a Bluetooth wireless link . Clinicians were then able to examine and respond to the readings which were viewed with a web-based application . Patients in the control arm of the study ( n = 65 )  did not transmit their readings and received care with their usual doctor in the outpatient and /or primary care setting . The mean follow-up period was 9 months in each group . The default rate was higher in the patients in the intervention arm due to technical problems . In an intention-to-treat analysis there were no differences in HbA1c between the intervention and control groups . In a sub-group analysis of the patients who completed the study , the telemonitoring group had a lower HbA1c than those in the control group : 7.76 % and 8.40 % , respectively ( P = 0.06 )
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 .