title: Telemedicine as a tool to mitigate cardiometabolic risk associated with serious mental illness.
abstract: People with serious mental illness suffer from substantially higher rates of cardiometabolic morbidity and mortality than the general population. We have evaluated the efficacy of telemedicine for providing cardiometabolic risk management services compared to in-person care. A retrospective chart review was conducted in order to compare changes in body mass index (BMI), systolic blood pressure and serum triglycerides before and after telemedicine (n=38). The comparator group (n=38) was selected from a list of all clients who had a conventional appointment at the metabolic clinic. Analysis of Variance showed an overall effect of treatment on BMI (P<0.001), but no significant differences between the groups on BMI (P=0.89), systolic blood pressure (P=0.62) or fasting serum triglycerides (P=0.81). This suggests that telemedicine may be as effective as in-person care and that telemedicine has the potential to improve access to cardiometabolic risk management services for people with serious mental illness.
authors.affiliation: Integrated Health Services Department, Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences, Ontario, Canada mooresj@ontarioshores.ca.
authors.forename: Jason D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Moores
authors.affiliation: Research and Academics Department, Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Sahil
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Uppal
authors.affiliation: Research and Academics Department, Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Alexandra M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Hernandez
authors.affiliation: Research and Academics Department, Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences, Ontario, Canada Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Canada.
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wilansky
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000150:complications*; D008659:Metabolic Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012308:Risk Management / Q000379:methods*; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000379:methods*; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D014280:Triglycerides