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Abstract

Introduction:Telemedicine is an important alternative for the comprehensive care of patients with cardiometabolic diseases in communities with difficult access, with limited economic resources. Quick and timely access to specialty care would improve their quality-of-life expectancy.Methods: A prospective cohort study was carried out to evaluate the impact of a teleconsultation of specialty service in a rural parish in the province of Pichincha-Ecuador, between January 2019 and September 2020. The data for the analysis were collected from medical records, and the people who received the telemedicine service were directly interviewed about their level of satisfaction in relation to the cost, time, and insight on the service.Results: During the study, 111 patients with cardiometabolic diseases who presented the following pathologies were treated: arterial hypertension (46.8%), type-2 diabetes mellitus (27.9%), hypothyroidism (14.4%) and prediabetes (4.5%). Only 35 patients required teleconsultation care with specialist doctors. During the follow-up of the patients, a significant reduction in blood glucose levels from 190 to 124 mg/dl, p=0.02, was observed. Glycosylated hemoglobin fell from 10% to 7%, p=0.05, systolic blood pressure fell from 128.9 ± 25.0 to 115.6 ± 13.2, and diastolic from 74.6 ± 11.5 to 60.2 ± 23.7, p=<0.01. Conclusion:The control of patients with cardiometabolic diseases could be followed up through the implementation of teleconsultation of specialty, with evidence of improvement in their clinical and laboratory status, cost reduction, time savings, and a high level of satisfaction among users.