Telemedicine management of type 2 diabetes mellitus in obese and overweight young and middle-aged patients during COVID-19 outbreak: A single-center, prospective, randomized control study
Open accessAbstract
Objective: The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic severely affected the disease management of patients with chronic illnesses such as type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). This study aimed to assess the effect of telemedicine management of diabetes in obese and overweight young and middle-aged patients with T2DM during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: A single-center randomized control study was conducted in 120 obese or overweight (body mass index [BMI] ≥ 24 kg/m 2) young and middle-aged patients (aged 18–55 years) with T2DM. Patients were randomly assigned to the intervention (telemedicine) or control (conventional outpatient clinic appointment) group. After baseline assessment, they were home isolated for 21 days, received diet and exercise guidance, underwent glucose monitoring, and followed up for 6 months. Glucose monitoring and Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) scores were evaluated at 22 days and at the end of 3 and 6 months. Results: Ninety-nine patients completed the 6-month follow-up (intervention group: n = 52; control group: n = 47). On day 22, the fasting blood glucose (FBG) level of the intervention group was lower than that of the control group (p < 0.05), and the control group’s SDS increased significantly compared with the baseline value (p < 0.05). At the end of 3 months, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and FBG levels in the intervention group decreased significantly compared with those in the control group (p < 0.01). At the end of 6 months, the intervention group showed a significant decrease in postprandial blood glucose, triglyceride, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels as well as waist-to-hip ratio compared with the control group (p < 0.05); moreover, the intervention group showed lower SDS scores than the baseline value (p < 0.05). Further, the intervention group showed a significant reduction in BMI compared with the control group at the end of 3 and 6 months (p < 0.01). Conclusion: Telemedicine is a beneficial strategy for achieving remotely supervised blood glucose regulation, weight loss, and depression relief in patients with T2DM. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:NCT04723550.
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Of 52 included RCTs, 7 (13%) assessed the effects of 6 different DHI strategy combinations on FBG levels in patients with T2DM.
“Of 52 included RCTs, 7 (13%) RCTs [74,78,84,85,87,97,98] assessed the effects of 6 different DHI strategy combinations on FBG levels in patients with T2DM.”
From Assessing the Effectiveness of Digital Health Behavior Strategies on Type 2 Diabetes Management: Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis (2025) · cites this paper as [74]
Of 52 included RCTs, 11 (21%) assessed the effects of 9 different DHI strategy combinations on BMI levels in patients with T2DM.
“Of 52 included RCTs, 11 (21%) RCTs [60,66,70,72-74,78,84,85,97,98] assessed the effects of 9 different DHI strategy combinations on BMI levels in patients with T2DM.”
From Assessing the Effectiveness of Digital Health Behavior Strategies on Type 2 Diabetes Management: Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis (2025) · cites this paper as [74]
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- Authors
- Yin, W., Liu, Y., Hu, H., Sun, J., Liu, Y., & Wang, Z.
- Affiliations
- China University of Mining and Technology (CN)
- Xuzhou No.1 People's Hospital (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Wang, Zhaoling
- Venue
- PLOS ONE
- Publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- Published
- 2022-09-29
- Volume
- 17
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- e0275251
- ISSN
- 1932-6203 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC9522303
- OpenAlex
- W4297991164
- Cited by
- 27
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 9
- FWCI
- 5.08
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- PLoS ONE (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (2020QN80)
- 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 › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Diabetes Management and Research
- Keywords
- type 2 diabetes, telemedicine, COVID-19 pandemic, obesity, overweight, young and middle-aged patients, glycemic control, HbA1c, fasting blood glucose, postprandial blood glucose, depression, weight loss, remote glucose monitoring, home isolation, lipid profile, waist-to-hip ratio, BMI reduction, chronic disease management
- MeSH terms
- COVID-19, Blood Glucose, Cholesterol, Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2, Disease Outbreaks, Glycated Hemoglobin, Humans, Lipoproteins, LDL, Middle Aged, Obesity, Prospective Studies, Triglycerides, Blood Glucose Self-Monitoring, Telemedicine, Overweight, Pandemics
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