Telehealth for the Management of Diabetes in Pregnancy

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Telehealth initiatives are becoming ubiquitous in clinical practice and can be a useful tool in the management of diabetes in pregnancy. The purpose of this review is to summarize new techniques in telemedicine delivery and offer details on how to leverage telehealth in delivering care to pregnant women with diabetes. RECENT FINDINGS: Using mobile phone technology to collect glucose values in women with gestational diabetes has been found to be beneficial by increasing the amount of glucose data available for interpretation. Remote patient monitoring in non-pregnant people with type 2 diabetes has shown a modest improvement in glucose control. In pregnant women with diabetes, the use of remote patient monitoring does not appear to improve outcomes but can decrease in-office visits and lower healthcare costs. However, telehealth may not be the only solution to helping patients with diabetes in pregnancy who have difficulty engaging in their care. SUMMARY: Telehealth affords improvements in convenience, efficiency, and frequency of communication with healthcare professionals, and the amount of data available to patients and providers alike, yielding the potential for better outcomes when telehealth modalities are adopted.