Telemedicine for diabetes management during the COVID-19 pandemic: An observational prospective study

The COVID-19 pandemic has compelled the French government to impose confinement measures to stem the spread of the coronavirus These measures may have had a potential impact on the glycemic control of diabetic patients Within this context, telemedicine appears to be a viable option for follow-up appointments of diabetic patients To assess this theory, we simultaneously led a prospective observational study during the novel coronavirus pandemic at Strasbourg's teaching hospital and at a private medical office to evaluate glycemic control in 491 diabetic patients either attending a telehealth appointment (n = 338) or whom in-person consultation had been postponed by 6 months (n = 153) Surveys were collected to assess both the patients’ and the physicians’ satisfaction A decrease in average glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) was observed among patients from the telehealth appointment group: ΔHbA1c = −0 33% (n = 175) as well as the other group: ΔHbA1c = −0 13% (n = 92) 3 months after the beginning of the study Patients belonging to the telehealth appointment group at Strasbourg's teaching hospital (n = 97) experienced a decrease in their HbA1c average from 7 65 ± 1 19% to 7 18 ± 0 9%, while patients from the same group attending a private medical office (n = 78) also experienced a decrease from 7 28 ± 0 80% to 7 11 ± 0 79% Ninety-two percent of patients were satisfied with the telehealth appointment, think it could be a virtual alternative to in-person consultation and would recommend it to other diabetic patients Even though seven out of eight diabetologists had never offered telehealth appointments to their patients prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, all of them hope to provide such services to their patients once the health crisis is over The tendency towards a decrease in HbA1c levels within our cohort should be qualified due to missing data caused by the disruption in data collection during the COVID-19 pandemic Evaluation and assessment of the cohort's glycemic control 6 months after the beginning of the study could help confirm these results