Telemonitoring in diabetes: evolution of concepts and technologies, with a focus on results of the more recent studies
Authors: Andrès Emmanuel ,   Service de Médecine Interne, Diabète et Maladies Métaboliques de la Clinique Médicale B, Hôpitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg, 1, porte de l’Hôpital, 67091 Strasbourg cedex France,   Equipe de recherche EA 3072 «Mitochondrie, Stress oxydant et Protection musculaire», Faculté de Médecine de Strasbourg, Université de Strasbourg (Unistra), Strasbourg, France,   Emmanuel Andrès, Service de Médecine Interne, Diabète et Maladies Métaboliques de la Clinique Médicale B, Hôpitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg, 1, porte de l’Hôpital, 67091 Strasbourg cedex France, E-mail: emmanuel.andres@chru-strasbourg.fr, Meyer Laurent ,   Service d’Endocrinologie et de Diabétologie de la Clinique Médicale B, Hôpitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France, Zulfiqar Abrar-Ahmad ,   Equipe de recherche EA 3072 «Mitochondrie, Stress oxydant et Protection musculaire», Faculté de Médecine de Strasbourg, Université de Strasbourg (Unistra), Strasbourg, France,   Service de Médecine Interne, Gériatrie et Thérapeutique, CHU de Rouen, France, Hajjam Mohamed ,   Predimed Technology, Strasbourg, France, Talha Samy ,   Equipe de recherche EA 3072 «Mitochondrie, Stress oxydant et Protection musculaire», Faculté de Médecine de Strasbourg, Université de Strasbourg (Unistra), Strasbourg, France,   Service de Physiologie et d’Explorations Fonctionnelles, Hôpitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France, Bahougne Thibault ,   Service d’Endocrinologie et de Diabétologie de la Clinique Médicale B, Hôpitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France, Ervé Sylvie ,   Centre d’expertise des Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication pour l’autonomie (CENTICH) et Mutualité Française Anjou-Mayenne (MFAM), Angers, France, Hajjam Jawad ,   Centre d’expertise des Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication pour l’autonomie (CENTICH) et Mutualité Française Anjou-Mayenne (MFAM), Angers, France, Doucet Jean ,   Service de Médecine Interne, Gériatrie et Thérapeutique, CHU de Rouen, France, Jeandidier Nathalie ,   Service d’Endocrinologie et de Diabétologie de la Clinique Médicale B, Hôpitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France, Hajjam El Hassani Amir ,   Equipe de recherche EA 4662 «Nanomédecine, Imagerie, Thérapeutiques», Université de Technologie de Belfort-Montbéliard (UTBM), Belfort-Montbéliard, France
Published: November 2019

This is a narrative review of telemonitoring (remote monitoring) projects and studies within the field of diabetes, with a focus on results of the more recent studies. Since the beginning of the 1990s, several telemedicine projects and studies focused on type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Over the last 5 years, numerous telemedicine projects based on connected objects and new information and communication technologies (ICT) (elements defining telemedicine 2.0) have emerged or are still under development. Two examples are the DIABETe and Telesage telemonitoring project which perfectly fits within the telemedicine 2.0 framework – the first to include artificial intelligence (AI) with MyPrediTM and DiabeoTM. Mainly, these projects and studies show that telemonitoring diabetic result in: improvements in control of blood glucose (BG) level and significant reduction in HbA1c (e.g., for Telescot et TELESAGE studies); positive impact on co-morbidities (arterial hypertension, weight, dyslipidemia) (e.g., for Telescot and DIABETe studies); better patient’s quality of life (e.g., for DIABETe study); positive impact on appropriation of the disease by patients and/or greater adherence to therapeutic and hygiene-dietary measures (e.g., The Utah Remote Monitoring Project); and at least, good receptiveness by patients and their empowerment. To date, the magnitude of its effects remains debatable, especially with the variation in patients’ characteristics (e.g., background, ability for self-management, medical condition), samples selection and approach for the treatment of control groups. All of the recent studies have been classified as “Moderate” to “High”.