A comparative study of early treatment dropout rates among patients seeking in-person consultation with those seeking teleconsultation

AIM: To compare the treatment dropout rates among patients seeking in-person consultation with those seeking teleconsultation. METHODOLOGY: Using a retrospective study design data of 7710 patients aged 18 or above who sought first psychiatric consultation during 1(st) June 2019 to 31(st) December 2019, was compared with 1637 new patients aged 18 or above seeking teleconsultation during 1(st) June 2020 to 31(st) December 2020. RESULTS: Among patients seeking in-person consultation 45.7% (3527) patients dropped out after the first consultation. whereas the drop-out rates among those seeking teleconsultation was 37.9 % (728) patients dropped out, which was significantly lower (p<0.01), compared to the in-person consultations. The majority of patients in both the groups were aged between 25-40 years. Among patients seeking in-person consultation the majority of drop-out patients had diagnosis of depressive illness (27.3 %) whereas in patients on tele-consultation majority of the patients had a diagnosis of anxiety disorder (34.1 %) CONCLUSIONS: The initial dropout rates of patients seeking tele consultation is significantly lower than those patients seeking in person consultation. Hence it can be said that tele consultation can reduce the initial dropout rates among psychiatric