Telemonitoring type 1 diabetes patients during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil: was it useful?

• Autor(a) principal: Matheus,Alessandra Saldanha de Mattos
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: Cabizuca,Carolina Alves, Tannus,Lucianne Righetti Monteiro, Passos,Aline Camin, Schmidt,Amábile Cristyne, Gouveia,Ana Tarasiuk de, Pessoa,Bruno Moraes de Albuquerque, Matheus,Felipe Cerqueira, Yang,Gabriela Yea-Huey, Divino,Josimara Araujo da Silva, Mathiles,Juliana Affonso, Teixeira,Juliana Leite, Barroso,Luiza de Souza, Brito,Max Benicio da Fonseca de, Suassuna,Paula Melichar, Cobas,Roberta Arnoldi
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Arquivos de Endocrinologia e Metabolismo (Online)
• Texto Completo: http://old.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2359-39972021000100105
• topic: Type 1 diabetes; COVID-19; telemonitoring

ABSTRACT Objectives: To evaluate the performance of telemonitoring in detecting clinical and psychological needs and adherence to the protective measures imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic in addition to providing remote assistance for patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D) in a public university center in Brazil. Subjects and methods: Telemonitoring protocol included phone calls and e-mails. Patients were asked to rate COVID-19-like symptoms, psychological symptoms, epidemiological issues, and adherence to diabetes management (insulin, exercise, and diet) using a 0-to-10 scale. An e-mail address and phone number were offered for further contact if needed. Clinical, demographic, and laboratorial data from the consultations before the pandemic were collected from medical records. Results: Among 321 patients with a previously scheduled consultation over the first 15 weeks of social distancing, 237 (73.8%) could be successfully contacted. Of these, 207 (87.3%) were exclusively evaluated by telemonitoring (190 only by phone or text message and 17 who were also reached by email), and 30 (12.7%) patients attended the consultation for medical reasons detected during the telephone screening. Overall, 44 (18.5%) patients reported COVID-19-like symptoms. One (2.3%) patient was hospitalized and subsequently died. Psychological symptoms were reported by 137 (60.4%) patients and 30 (12.7%) required remote psychological assistance. Appropriate social distancing was performed by 203 (87.9%) patients, and 221 (97.8%) referred use of masks. Conclusions: Telemonitoring T1D patients during the pandemic helped reduce the need for in-person consultations, detect clinical and psychological needs, and offer support to patients in addition to monitoring suspected COVID-19 cases and the adherence to protective measures.