TeleOftalmo: estratégia de ampliação da oferta de telediagnósticos oftalmológicos para a atenção primária à saúde no Sul do Brasil

• Autor(a) principal: Taís de Campos Moreira
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Maria Eulália Vinadé Chagas, Cassia Garcia Moraes Pagano, Aline Lutz de Araújo, Roberto Nunes Umpierre, Barbara Carvalho de Oliveira, Veronica Lucas de Olivera Guattini, Natan Katz, Felipe Cezar Cabral
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Cadernos de Saúde Pública
• Texto Completo: https://cadernos.ensp.fiocruz.br/ojs/index.php/csp/article/view/8068
• topic: Oftalmologia; Telemedicina; Atenção Primária à Saúde

The use of teleophthalmology may be a viable strategy to track and to diagnose major eye diseases primary health care patients. This study aimed to describe the performance of 30,315 telediagnoses in ophthalmology in primary care patients and the case management of this service. This is a cross-sectional study to evaluate the telediagnosis performed in patients treated at the eight remote points of the TeleOftalmo project from January 2nd, 2018, to December 31st, 2020. The patients’ demographic characteristics, the reasons for referral, the diagnoses made according to age group, and the case management of the telediagnosis were evaluated. Most patients were female (66.1%), adults (70.3%), and referred to telediagnosis mainly due to reduced visual acuity (60.5%). Refractive errors were the most prevalent diagnosis in all age groups. Presbyopia was the most prevalent eye disease in adults (65.4%) and older adults (64%), followed by cataracts (41.3%) and suspected glaucoma (10.6%) in older adults. In total, 30,315 patients underwent telediagnosis, 70.5% had their ocular complaints fully resolved, without the need for referral to an in-person ophthalmologist. Telemedicine can be resolutory for the most prevalent eye diseases in the population, increasing the supply of diagnoses, qualifying and assisting in reducing waiting lines for ophthalmologic care.