Endocrine Abstracts

Rationale: The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the development of telemedicine technologies. Today there is evidence of the successful use of telemedicine in various areas of healthcare, particularly in endocrinology. At the same time, there is not enough information for efficient integration of telemedicine into the routine management of patients.

Aim: The aim of this work was a clinical and demographic analysis of “doctor-patient” telemedicine consultations (TMC) conducted at the Endocrinology Research Centre (Moscow, Russian Federation) in 2020-2021.

Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional, single-centre, retrospective study was conducted. The study included all patients who received at least one TMC at the Endocrinology Research Centre in 2020-2021. Clinical and demographic information was analyzed (gender, age, region of residence, disease code according to ICD-10). All patients signed an informed consent for the telemedicine consultation. The received data were processed using the Microsoft Office software.

Results: In 2020, 1548 TMC were held, in 2021 - 4180 TMC. Among adults, women predominated in the structure of TMC (83-86%), among children there is a tendency towards equivalent appeals for boys and girls (in 2021 - 45% and 55%, respectively). The median age of adult patients in 2021 was 38 years [31;53], among children - 11 years [7;14]. In 2020, residents of 74 regions of the Russian Federation applied for TMC, in 2021 - of 82 regions. There is a tendency for patients from the Central, Volga, Southern and North Caucasian federal districts to predominate in the structure of TMC. In the nosological structure of TMC among adults diseases of the thyroid gland (35.2%), parathyroid glands (6.8%), diabetes mellitus types 1 and 2 (5.8%), ovarian dysfunction (5.6%) and obesity (4.7%) predominated. In children, TMC the most frequent nosologies were type 1 diabetes mellitus (49.8%), thyroid diseases (13.9%), adrenogenital disorders (5%), and polyglandular dysfunction (4.3%).

Conclusion: TMC proved to be in demand in patients with a variety of endocrinopathies. It is important to analyze both the TMC market and the effectiveness of remote counseling for various nosologies in order to determine the place of telemedicine in the modern healthcare structure and introduce TMC into the system of clinical recommendations.