SAN DIEGO – Online consultations between dermatologists, patients with psoriasis, and the patients’ primary care physicians were as effective as in-person consultations in successfully treating the disease in a multicenter, randomized study of 296 patients.
Dr. April Armstrong
“Innovative telehealth delivery models that emphasize collaboration, quality, and efficiency can be transformative to improving patient-centered outcomes in chronic disease,” April W. Armstrong, MD, said at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology. The online model she tested fostered “increased patient engagement” and provided “comprehensive specialist support,” said Dr. Armstrong, director of the psoriasis program at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.
To objectively assess whether online consultations are as effective as in-person examinations, Dr. Armstrong and her associates at three U.S. centers randomized adult psoriasis patients from across the disease spectrum to receive 1 year of dermatology care either in person or online. Patients enrolled in the online arm received training in taking digital images of their skin lesions and uploading the data for remote access by their dermatologist and primary care physician. The frequency of in-person and online consultations was left to the discretion of each patient and his or her physician.
Among the 148 patients randomized to each arm, 17 in the online group and 13 in the in-person group withdrew from the study or were lost to follow-up. The researchers analyzed the results on an intention-to-treat basis.
They assessed three parameters of treatment efficacy that they measured at baseline and then every 3 months out to 1 year: Psoriasis Area and Severity Index, body surface area score, and patient global self-assessment. A comparison of changes between the two treatment arms after 1 year for the first two measures met the study’s prespecified definition of equivalence, Dr. Armstrong reported. The third measure, a patient’s global self-assessment, showed lower patient-assessed disease severity after 1 year among the patients managed online, compared with those managed in person.
The incidence of adverse events and serious adverse events was similar in the two treatment arms.
Dr. Armstrong had no relevant financial disclosures.
Source: Armstrong A et al. AAD 2018, abstract 6730..