Telemedicine and diabetic foot ulcer outcomes. A meta-analysis of controlled trials.
Foot (Edinb)
; 50: 101872, 2022 Mar.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1712622
ABSTRACT
Telemedicine (TM) has been advanced as an effective approach to wound care management. In this era of COVID-19 pandemic, it is paramount to assess the evidence behind the use of TM in treating diabetic foot ulcers (DFU). This meta-analysis aims at evaluating the efficacy of TM versus face-to-face attendance in managing DFU. In total, four controlled studies were included in the meta-analysis comprising 3 randomized trials. The total pooled sample comprised 816 patients (816 ulcers) 337 in TM group and 479 in the control group. The results were as follows (a) healing rate OR was 1.35, in favor of TM (p = 0.4), (b) time to heal with means of 73 ± 24.1 days and 83.5 ± 28.4 days, for the TM and control group, respectively (p = 0.35), c) the amputation rate OR was 0.48 (p = 0.007) in favor of the TM group, d) the mortality rate OR was 1.66 (p = 0.2), and e) a trend for lesser cost than face-to-face group (p = 0.4). While future research using large-sampled controlled studies is warranted, the present meta-analysis demonstrated that treating DFU via TM could be at least as effective as to face-to-face attendance. In times where clinic visits are reduced or not possible such as during this COVID-19 pandemic and the likely-to-happen future outbreaks, TM could be a valuable alternative.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Telemedicine
/
Diabetic Foot
/
Diabetes Mellitus
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Randomized controlled trials
/
Reviews
Limits:
Humans
Language:
English
Journal:
Foot (Edinb)
Journal subject:
Orthopedics
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS