The Importance of Telemedicine during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Focus on Diabetic Retinopathy

Recently, telemedicine has become remarkably important, due to increased deployment and development of digital technologies. National and international guidelines should consider its inclusion in their updates. During the COVID-19 pandemic, mandatory social distancing and the lack of effective treat...

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Main Authors: Raffaele Galiero, Pia Clara Pafundi, Riccardo Nevola, Luca Rinaldi, Carlo Acierno, Alfredo Caturano, Teresa Salvatore, Luigi Elio Adinolfi, Ciro Costagliola, Ferdinando Carlo Sasso
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2020-01-01
Series:Journal of Diabetes Research
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/9036847
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author Raffaele Galiero
Pia Clara Pafundi
Riccardo Nevola
Luca Rinaldi
Carlo Acierno
Alfredo Caturano
Teresa Salvatore
Luigi Elio Adinolfi
Ciro Costagliola
Ferdinando Carlo Sasso
author_facet Raffaele Galiero
Pia Clara Pafundi
Riccardo Nevola
Luca Rinaldi
Carlo Acierno
Alfredo Caturano
Teresa Salvatore
Luigi Elio Adinolfi
Ciro Costagliola
Ferdinando Carlo Sasso
author_sort Raffaele Galiero
collection DOAJ
description Recently, telemedicine has become remarkably important, due to increased deployment and development of digital technologies. National and international guidelines should consider its inclusion in their updates. During the COVID-19 pandemic, mandatory social distancing and the lack of effective treatments has made telemedicine the safest interactive system between patients, both infected and uninfected, and clinicians. A few potential evidence-based scenarios for the application of telemedicine have been hypothesized. In particular, its use in diabetes and complication monitoring has been remarkably increasing, due to the high risk of poor prognosis. New evidence and technological improvements in telemedicine application in diabetic retinopathy (DR) have demonstrated efficacy and usefulness in screening. Moreover, despite an initial increase for devices and training costs, teleophthalmology demonstrated a good cost-to-efficacy ratio; however, no national screening program has yet focused on DR prevention and diagnosis. Lack of data during the COVID-19 pandemic strongly limits the possibility of tracing the real management of the disease, which is only conceivable from past evidence in normal conditions. The pandemic further stressed the importance of remote monitoring. However, the deployment of device and digital application used to increase screening of individuals and monitor progression of retinal disease needs to be easily accessible to general practitioners.
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institution Kabale University
issn 2314-6745
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spelling doaj-art-4d32c5931b8a41c3bd614a6cef35e86d2025-08-20T03:34:18ZengWileyJournal of Diabetes Research2314-67452314-67532020-01-01202010.1155/2020/90368479036847The Importance of Telemedicine during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Focus on Diabetic RetinopathyRaffaele Galiero0Pia Clara Pafundi1Riccardo Nevola2Luca Rinaldi3Carlo Acierno4Alfredo Caturano5Teresa Salvatore6Luigi Elio Adinolfi7Ciro Costagliola8Ferdinando Carlo Sasso9Department of Advanced Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Piazza Luigi Miraglia 80138 Naples, ItalyDepartment of Advanced Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Piazza Luigi Miraglia 80138 Naples, ItalyDepartment of Advanced Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Piazza Luigi Miraglia 80138 Naples, ItalyDepartment of Advanced Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Piazza Luigi Miraglia 80138 Naples, ItalyDepartment of Advanced Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Piazza Luigi Miraglia 80138 Naples, ItalyDepartment of Advanced Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Piazza Luigi Miraglia 80138 Naples, ItalyDepartment of Precision Medicine, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Via de Crecchio 7, 80138 Naples, ItalyDepartment of Advanced Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Piazza Luigi Miraglia 80138 Naples, ItalyDepartment of Medicine & Health Sciences “V. Tiberio”, University of Molise, Via F. De Sanctis, 1, 86100 Campobasso, ItalyDepartment of Advanced Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, Piazza Luigi Miraglia 80138 Naples, ItalyRecently, telemedicine has become remarkably important, due to increased deployment and development of digital technologies. National and international guidelines should consider its inclusion in their updates. During the COVID-19 pandemic, mandatory social distancing and the lack of effective treatments has made telemedicine the safest interactive system between patients, both infected and uninfected, and clinicians. A few potential evidence-based scenarios for the application of telemedicine have been hypothesized. In particular, its use in diabetes and complication monitoring has been remarkably increasing, due to the high risk of poor prognosis. New evidence and technological improvements in telemedicine application in diabetic retinopathy (DR) have demonstrated efficacy and usefulness in screening. Moreover, despite an initial increase for devices and training costs, teleophthalmology demonstrated a good cost-to-efficacy ratio; however, no national screening program has yet focused on DR prevention and diagnosis. Lack of data during the COVID-19 pandemic strongly limits the possibility of tracing the real management of the disease, which is only conceivable from past evidence in normal conditions. The pandemic further stressed the importance of remote monitoring. However, the deployment of device and digital application used to increase screening of individuals and monitor progression of retinal disease needs to be easily accessible to general practitioners.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/9036847
spellingShingle Raffaele Galiero
Pia Clara Pafundi
Riccardo Nevola
Luca Rinaldi
Carlo Acierno
Alfredo Caturano
Teresa Salvatore
Luigi Elio Adinolfi
Ciro Costagliola
Ferdinando Carlo Sasso
The Importance of Telemedicine during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Focus on Diabetic Retinopathy
Journal of Diabetes Research
title The Importance of Telemedicine during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Focus on Diabetic Retinopathy
title_full The Importance of Telemedicine during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Focus on Diabetic Retinopathy
title_fullStr The Importance of Telemedicine during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Focus on Diabetic Retinopathy
title_full_unstemmed The Importance of Telemedicine during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Focus on Diabetic Retinopathy
title_short The Importance of Telemedicine during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Focus on Diabetic Retinopathy
title_sort importance of telemedicine during covid 19 pandemic a focus on diabetic retinopathy
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2020/9036847
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