Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction

Telemedicine is a useful tool for improving the availability of medical care, especially in the era of COVID-19. It is required to study the needs of the Russian population for telemedicine services for each specific disease.

Methods

In Russian Federation telemedicine consultations (TMC) have been legally allowed since 2018. According to the law, if the patient has not previously attended a face-to-face consultation, the doctor has no right to make a diagnose and prescribe treatment. Remote consultations after a face-to-face visits have no restrictions. All TMC were conducted by physicians of Endocrinology Research Centre in Moscow with medical information system with the identification of the patient’s and the doctor’s personalities. All data is shown as median [Q1;Q3], unless otherwise indicated.

Results

The number of TMC increased from 104 in 2019 to 1548 in 2020. A sharp increase in patients’ requests results from COVID-19 pandemic. Adults received 1200 TMC (M:F = 167:1033, i.e. 13.9% and 86.1%, respectively). 460 were conducted with videoconferencing (38.3%). With the exclusion of repeated TMC, 973 individual adult patients applied for TMC in 2020 (M: F = 143: 830, i.e. 14.7% and 85.3%, respectively). The median age of adult patients was 38.0 years [31.0; 53.0], among women – 37.5 years [30.0; 52.0], among men – 42.5 years [34.3; 54.0]. 348 consultations were provided to children (M: F = 130: 218, i.e. 37% and 63%, respectively). 106 were conducted with videoconferencing (30.4%). With the exclusion of repeated TMC, TMC was provided to 272 children (M:W = 102:170, i.e. 37.5% and 62.5%, respectively). The median age of children was 10.0 years [6.0;14.0], among girls – 11.0 years [6.3;14.0], among boys – 10.0 years [4.0;13.0]. All 1548 TMС were performed for 201 diseases (indicated by the ICD-10 code). 38 conditions accounted for 65% of all consultations. Among adults, 880 unique cases were identified (1 patient with one certain disease). The most frequent cases were E05.0 (8.8%), E21.0 (4.6%), E66.0 (4.4%), E04.2 (4.3%) and E06.3 (4.2%). Among children, 267 unique cases were identified, the most frequent were E25.0 (12%), E34.3 (7.5%), E66.0 and E10.8 (6% each), E23.0 (5.2%).

Conclusion

The demand for TMC in 2020 increased dramatically. In Endocrinology Centre the demand for TMC didn’t correlate with the prevalence of certain diseases. It is necessary to develop telehealth technologies for other conditions and conduct further research to determine the feasibility of including TMC in the national guidelines.