Objectives: Telemedicine has emerged as a promising solution for enhancing Type 2 diabetes management, which aims to reduce healthcare costs and improve patient outcomes. Despite its potential benefits for diabetes management in India, knowledge of its clinical effectiveness is scarce. This meta-analysis examines the clinical effectiveness of telemedicine versus physical consultation in managing Type 2 diabetes in India.
Methods: The meta-analysis adhered to the PRISMA-P guidelines and was registered with PROSPERO (CRD42023400562). PubMed and EMBASE were searched for eligible studies from 1st January 2012 to 30th June 2022. Included were studies on Type 2 diabetes patients in India comparing telemedicine (Intervention) with physical consultation (conventional) regarding effect on HbA1c changes. Risk of bias for randomised studies of Intervention (RoB-2) was used for study quality assessment.
Results: We found four articles that met the eligibility criteria, all reporting quantitative HbA1c change. The telemedicine interventions included video consultation, health systemcomputer-generated telephonic messages and a Video-Based Lifestyle Education Programme. Upon pooling the results from these studies, an overall analysis indicated a non-statistically significant reduction in HbA1c levels following the intervention compared to conventional treatment (pooled difference in means = -0.03, 95% CI = -0.23 to 0.17, Z = 0.30 P = 0.76). Likewise, there was no statistically significant difference in secondary outcomes (Body Mass Index, body weight and lipid profile) between both treatment groups.
Conclusion: Enhancing telemedicine approaches may hold promise in improving type 2 diabetes management in India, although the existing evidence remains inconclusive. Further research involving long-term telemedicine interventions would help to provide more substantial evidence on the clinical effectiveness of telemedicine for Type 2 diabetes management in India.
Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40200-024-01471-x.
Keywords: Clinical effectiveness; Diabetes; HbA1c; India; Telemedicine.
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