**4. Conclusion**

Recent reports in the literature have addressed several aspects of telemedicine applied to the treatment of diabetes in pregnancy. The use of telemedicine appears to be not only feasible, but also capable of achieving the same glycemic control and perinatal outcomes as conven‐ tional care, with fewer visits to the clinic. This would naturally be appreciated by patients, but there is also the economic impact on the physician's side to consider. Fewer visits to the doctor would cut costs while assuring the same level of care, even after the costs of creating a telemedicine system have been taken into account. If telemedicine applied to the treatment of diabetes during pregnancy can benefit both parties (patients and doctors), it could drasti‐ cally change current treatment methods (ATTD 2010 Yearbook, 2011). The implementation of telemedicine in the clinical management of GDM also supports the greater involvement of figures, such as nurses and dietitians (Figure 1), whose support can help in saving time and resources in the follow-up of these patients (García-Patterson, 2003).

Finally, it seems unlikely that any intervention on chronic diseases can have much effect un‐ less it is applied over a lengthy period of time (Wootton R, 2012). Future studies might con‐

**Figure 1.** Schematic representation of the interconnection between patients, specialists and technologies supported

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[1] Albrecht SS, Kurlina EV, Bansil P, Jamieson DJ, Whiteman MK, Kourtis AP, Posner SF, Callaghan WM. Diabetes Trends Among Delivery Hospitalizations in the U.S.,

sider testing telemedicine schemes for years rather than months.

Nino Cristiano Chilelli, Maria Grazia Dalfrà and Annunziata Lapolla

Department of Medicine (DIMED), University of Padova, Italy

1994–2004. Diabetes Care 2010; 33:768–773

**Author details**

by telemedicine.

**References**

The present review raises a number of questions about the intrinsic value of telemedicine in the management of chronic disease. It would be useful if future studies were designed very carefully in order to identify the true value of remote patient support systems. It would also be valuable to future reviewers if a minimum dataset were adopted to measure outcomes. Quantitative indices, from which pooled estimates of effect can be calculated, include:


Better Ways to Cope with Increasingly Common Diseases: The Impact of… http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/57018 71

**Figure 1.** Schematic representation of the interconnection between patients, specialists and technologies supported by telemedicine.

Finally, it seems unlikely that any intervention on chronic diseases can have much effect un‐ less it is applied over a lengthy period of time (Wootton R, 2012). Future studies might con‐ sider testing telemedicine schemes for years rather than months.
