title: A review of telemedicine interventions in diabetes care.
abstract: We reviewed the literature concerning the use of telemedicine interventions in diabetes care. The PubMed database was searched for randomized controlled trials concerning the use of telemedicine for patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes. A total of 27 articles (studies) met the inclusion criteria. The interventions concerned videoconferencing (n = 8), mobile phones (n = 10) and telephone calls (n = 9). There was metabolic improvement in 23 studies, which was significant in 12 out of 23 (44%). Only two studies (8%) reported a negative clinical outcome. The majority of the studies (n = 19; 70%) employed behavioural therapy as the key intervention. The medium used for interaction in behavioural therapy intervention was videoconferencing (n = 7), mobile phone (n = 4), telephone calls (n = 8), feedback letters (n = 2). Telemedicine appears to be a promising alternative to conventional therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Informatics, Post Graduate Institute of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.
authors.forename: L S A Nishan
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Siriwardena
authors.forename: W A Sudarshana
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Wickramasinghe
authors.forename: K L Dussantha
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Perera
authors.forename: Rohana B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Marasinghe
authors.forename: Prasad
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Katulanda
authors.forename: Roshan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hewapathirana
mesh_terms: D001521:Behavior Therapy; D040421:Cell Phone; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000628:therapy*; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000628:therapy; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000628:therapy; D005246:Feedback; D006801:Humans; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000379:methods; D013689:Telephone; D049269:Videoconferencing