The effectiveness of telemedicine methods in the follow-up of asthma in the COVID-19 pandemic process.

Introduction: Telemedicine is a health service that provides diagnosis, treatment evaluation, preventive medicine by using information and communication technologies between distant locations and aims to improve the health of the individuals and society. Social restrictions were applied during the pandemic process caused by coronavirus disease-2019 due to the virus called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 which emerged in late 2019. Through remote communication and information technologies in the followup of asthma patients, there is a need for studies on the effectiveness of using telemedicine methods was seen.

Materials and methods: Our study included 328 patients aged 18 to 65 who were diagnosed with asthma and followed up by our team. The clinical evaluations and scale results of these patients were conducted at least three times by a single physician using telemedicine applications. In our study, the control group consisted of routine control results from asthma patients, who were reachable via hospital records before the pandemic, covering a one-year period. This file review includes data from October 1, 2019, to October 1, 2020.

Result: Three hundred and twenty-eight patients with asthma were included in the study. When the current data of the participants were compared with face-to-face data before follow-up with telemedicine, no statistically significant difference was found (p> 0.05). Although there was a slight decrease in asthma control test scores during the follow-up, it was not statistically significant (p> 0.05). A statistically significant difference was found in severe persistent asthma as a result of the comparison of the asthma control test results of the participants in follow-up according to disease severity (p<0.05). In this study, when the effect of the presence of comorbidity on asthma control test results in follow-up was examined, statistically significant results were obtained (p<0.05).

Conclusions: It is predicted that telemedicine will have an important place in disease control since asthma is a disease that requires close monitoring. Disease follow-up with telemedicine was predicted to be a good alternative to traditional face-to-face follow-ups in selected patient groups. This study also supported the effectiveness of telemedicine.