The impact of a telehealth intervention on the metabolic profile of diabetes mellitus patients during the COVID-19 pandemic - A randomized clinical trial.

OBJECTIVES

The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of a telehealth intervention on metabolic outcomes and self-perceptions of the patients regarding their management of diabetes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

METHODS

This is a non-blind randomized controlled clinical trial to assess a telehealth intervention. We included adults with diabetes mellitus. The outcomes assessed were the level of HbA1c, lipid profile, blood pressure levels, weight, body mass index and self-perceptions about diabetes management.

RESULTS

A total of 150 individuals with diabetes participated in the study and at the end of telehealth intervention there were no changes in the patient's HbA1c levels between intervention and control groups for neither type 1 (8.1% vs. 8.6%; p = 0.11) nor type 2 diabetes (8.6% vs. 9.0%; p = 0.09), respectively. From the rest of the metabolic profile, triglyceride levels from type 1 diabetes group was the only variable that demonstrated improvement with telehealth intervention (66.5% intervention group vs. 86.5% control group; p = 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

After 4 months of telehealth intervention, no statistically significant results were observed in HbA1c nor in secondary outcomes (with the exception of triglycerides for the type 1 diabetes group).