Telehealth for diabetes self-management in primary healthcare: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Abstract
Background: Diabetes mellitus is prevalent worldwide and the majority of the patients with this metabolic disease are managed in primary healthcare settings. Self-management is, therefore, crucial for the health and wellbeing of people with diabetes. Due to the advancement of information technologies, telehealth intervention as self-management measures potentially offer a possible solution in the primary healthcare arena to cope with the increasing demand for diabetes control. Methods: This study aims to systematically review the effectiveness of telehealth on diabetes control self-management in primary healthcare settings. A keyword search was conducted in six databases for randomised controlled trials. Data extraction and quality assessment of the reviewed studies were done with standardised forms and checklists. A meta-analysis was also performed in this review. Results: Of the seven studies included in this review, all of them reported a decreasing level of glycated haemoglobin. Four studies examined the effect of telehealth interventions on fasting plasma glucose levels; however, the overall effects were insignificant. It is, nonetheless, encouraging to see two studies which investigated their effect on two-hour post-meal glucose levels, and showed positive effects for glycaemic control self-management in the short term. This finding, though only from two studies, points to a promising future of utilising telehealth interventions in controlling this metabolic disease in the primary healthcare arena. Conclusions: This review showed positive effects of telehealth interventions for diabetes control self-management at the primary healthcare stage. Further studies are required to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of telehealth interventions.
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Other reviews have shown similar improvements in hypertension and type 2 diabetes self-management after telemonitoring interventions.
“This is in line with other reviews that have shown similar improvements in hypertension [168] and type 2 diabetes self-management [169] after telemonitoring interventions.”
From Interactive Remote Patient Monitoring Devices for Managing Chronic Health Conditions: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (2022) · cites this paper as [169]
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- Authors
- So, C. F., & Chung, J. W.
- Affiliations
- Education University of Hong Kong (HK)
- Corresponding author
- So, Chi F
- ORCID
- Chung, Joanne WY
- Venue
- Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2017-05-02
- Volume
- 24
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 356-364
- ISSN
- 1357-633X (ISSN-L)
- 1758-1109
- OpenAlex
- W2610170202
- Cited by
- 138
- References
- 28
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 32 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 1 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 0.93
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Telemedicine and Telehealth Implementation
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Diabetes Management and Education
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
- Keywords
- telemedicine, diabetes self-management, HbA1c, glycemic control, fasting blood glucose, postprandial blood glucose, primary care, diabetes mellitus, remote patient monitoring
- MeSH terms
- Self-Management, Diabetes Mellitus, Glycated Hemoglobin, Humans, Primary Health Care, Telemedicine
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