Abstract
The University of California Davis Medical Center (Sacramento, CA) has pioneered the use of telemedicine in its approach to childhood obesity to cover more than 20 rural clinics in California. In our study, we compared the outcomes of the Telemedicine Weight Management Clinic (TM) with those of its face-to-face (FTF) Weight Management Clinic counterpart over the last 5 years, predicting the results to be equivalent or in favor of TM. All children seen in the TM from June 2006 to June 2011 were included (n=121), and encounter notes in medical records were reviewed. For comparison, an equivalent sample of FTF patients was selected from that time frame (n=122). Data that were also abstracted from the medical record included age at first visit, gender, race, referral site, and comorbid diagnoses. Forty-two percent of TM patients compared with 52% of FTF patients received a change in diagnosis. Thirty-nine percent of TM patients received a change in diagnostic evaluation compared with 67% of patients in FTF. When comparing patients who received more than one visit with either form of consultation, the TM group demonstrated substantially more improvement than the FTF group in improving nutrition (88% versus 65%), increasing activity (76% versus 49%), and decreasing screen time (33% versus 8%). Substantially more TM patients were successful with a combined outcome of any one of the weight parameters that included weight loss, weight maintenance, or slowing of weight gain (69% TM versus 44% FTF). Our study suggests that telemedicine can serve as a feasible strategy to increase access to medical care for childhood obesity in rural communities and promote changes in lifestyle with the goal of maintaining a healthy weight.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 806-808 |
| Number of pages | 3 |
| Journal | Telemedicine and e-Health |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue number | 10 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Oct 1 2013 |
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Keywords
- medical records
- telecommunications
- telehealth
- telemedicine
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Medicine(all)
- Health Informatics
- Health Information Management
Cite this
Telemedicine and face-to-face care for pediatric obesity. / Lipana, Lawrence Santiago; Bindal, Deepika; Nettiksimmons, Jasmine; Shaikh, Ulfat.
In: Telemedicine and e-Health, Vol. 19, No. 10, 01.10.2013, p. 806-808.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Telemedicine and face-to-face care for pediatric obesity
AU - Lipana, Lawrence Santiago
AU - Bindal, Deepika
AU - Nettiksimmons, Jasmine
AU - Shaikh, Ulfat
PY - 2013/10/1
Y1 - 2013/10/1
N2 - The University of California Davis Medical Center (Sacramento, CA) has pioneered the use of telemedicine in its approach to childhood obesity to cover more than 20 rural clinics in California. In our study, we compared the outcomes of the Telemedicine Weight Management Clinic (TM) with those of its face-to-face (FTF) Weight Management Clinic counterpart over the last 5 years, predicting the results to be equivalent or in favor of TM. All children seen in the TM from June 2006 to June 2011 were included (n=121), and encounter notes in medical records were reviewed. For comparison, an equivalent sample of FTF patients was selected from that time frame (n=122). Data that were also abstracted from the medical record included age at first visit, gender, race, referral site, and comorbid diagnoses. Forty-two percent of TM patients compared with 52% of FTF patients received a change in diagnosis. Thirty-nine percent of TM patients received a change in diagnostic evaluation compared with 67% of patients in FTF. When comparing patients who received more than one visit with either form of consultation, the TM group demonstrated substantially more improvement than the FTF group in improving nutrition (88% versus 65%), increasing activity (76% versus 49%), and decreasing screen time (33% versus 8%). Substantially more TM patients were successful with a combined outcome of any one of the weight parameters that included weight loss, weight maintenance, or slowing of weight gain (69% TM versus 44% FTF). Our study suggests that telemedicine can serve as a feasible strategy to increase access to medical care for childhood obesity in rural communities and promote changes in lifestyle with the goal of maintaining a healthy weight.
AB - The University of California Davis Medical Center (Sacramento, CA) has pioneered the use of telemedicine in its approach to childhood obesity to cover more than 20 rural clinics in California. In our study, we compared the outcomes of the Telemedicine Weight Management Clinic (TM) with those of its face-to-face (FTF) Weight Management Clinic counterpart over the last 5 years, predicting the results to be equivalent or in favor of TM. All children seen in the TM from June 2006 to June 2011 were included (n=121), and encounter notes in medical records were reviewed. For comparison, an equivalent sample of FTF patients was selected from that time frame (n=122). Data that were also abstracted from the medical record included age at first visit, gender, race, referral site, and comorbid diagnoses. Forty-two percent of TM patients compared with 52% of FTF patients received a change in diagnosis. Thirty-nine percent of TM patients received a change in diagnostic evaluation compared with 67% of patients in FTF. When comparing patients who received more than one visit with either form of consultation, the TM group demonstrated substantially more improvement than the FTF group in improving nutrition (88% versus 65%), increasing activity (76% versus 49%), and decreasing screen time (33% versus 8%). Substantially more TM patients were successful with a combined outcome of any one of the weight parameters that included weight loss, weight maintenance, or slowing of weight gain (69% TM versus 44% FTF). Our study suggests that telemedicine can serve as a feasible strategy to increase access to medical care for childhood obesity in rural communities and promote changes in lifestyle with the goal of maintaining a healthy weight.
KW - medical records
KW - telecommunications
KW - telehealth
KW - telemedicine
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84885061038&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84885061038&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1089/tmj.2012.0292
DO - 10.1089/tmj.2012.0292
M3 - Article
C2 - 23980937
AN - SCOPUS:84885061038
VL - 19
SP - 806
EP - 808
JO - Telemedicine and e-Health
JF - Telemedicine and e-Health
SN - 1530-5627
IS - 10
ER -