Effect of telemedicine intervention on hypoglycaemia in diabetes patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials
Abstract
Introduction: Hypoglycaemia is a clinical syndrome from various causes, which happens when the blood glucose concentration is too low. Many studies show that telemedicine intervention can improve glycemic control and has a positive impact on the management of diabetic patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of telemedicine intervention on hypoglycemic event occurrences and results on hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) and body mass index (BMI). Methods: We searched the Cochrane Library, PubMed, Web of Science, the EBSCO host, and OVID to identify relevant studies published from January 2006 to December 2017. The work of searching, selecting and assessing risk of bias was administrated by two independent reviewers. The primary outcomes were hypoglycemic event rate and HbA1c; the secondary outcome was BMI. Results: From 1246 articles, we identified 14 eligible RCTs ( n = 1324). Compared to usual care, telemedicine was found to reduce the odds of hypoglycaemia (odds ratio ( OR) = 0.42; 95% confidence interval ( CI) = 0.29–0.59; I 2 = 32%; p < 0.00001). We found that the clinical relevance declined in HbA1c level compared to control group (mean difference = −0.28; 95% CI = −0.45 to −0.12; I 2 = 53%; p = 0.0005), but that telemedicine had no effect on BMI (mean difference = −0.27; 95% CI = −0.86–0.31; I 2 = 40%; p = 0.35). Discussion: Compared to usual care, the use of telemedicine was found to improve HbA1c and reduce the risk of moderate hypoglycaemia in diabetic patients, but without significant difference in BMI.
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One review suggested that any evaluation less than 3 months would not be sufficient because of the time required to educate people with type 2 diabetes with virtual care systems or devices.
“One review suggested that any evaluation less than 3 months would not be sufficient because of the time required to educate people with type 2 diabetes with virtual care systems or devices [30].”
From Effect of virtual care in type 2 diabetes management – a systematic umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analysis (2025) · cites this paper as [30]
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- Authors
- Hu, Y., Wen, X., Wang, F., Yang, D., Liu, S., Li, P., & Xu, J.
- Affiliations
- Huzhou Normal University (CN)
- The First People's Hospital of Huzhou, China
- Cangzhou Medical College (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Xu, Juling
- Venue
- Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2018-06-18
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 402-413
- ISSN
- 1357-633X (ISSN-L)
- 1758-1109
- OpenAlex
- W2809115223
- Cited by
- 57
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 1
- FWCI
- 1.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Establishment and Application of Blood Glucose Management Platform after Diabetes Discharge; Regional Joint Management of Blood glucose in patients with Off-hospital Diabetes Mellitus (2016 c33217; 2016 GYB02)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Telemedicine and Telehealth Implementation
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Diabetes Management and Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Diabetes Management and Education
- Keywords
- telemedicine, hypoglycemia, diabetes mellitus, glycemic control, HbA1c, body mass index, telehealth intervention, blood glucose monitoring
- MeSH terms
- Blood Glucose, Diabetes Mellitus, Glycated Hemoglobin, Humans, Hypoglycemia, Hypoglycemic Agents, Body Mass Index, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic, Telemedicine, Diabetes Complications
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