Teledermatology vs. Face-to-Face Visits in the Follow-Up of Patients With Acne

Insel Gruppe AG, University Hospital Bern24 enrolled

Overview

Acne vulgaris is a common cutaneous inflammatory condition of sebaceous follicles that can profoundly affect patients' quality of life, especially at a young age. In this context the use of teledermatology can potentially reduce the healthcare costs associated to traditional consultations as well as the costs related to travel and loss of school/working time for the patient, with a clear benefit for the whole community. Since 2016, the Department of Dermatology at Inselspital Hospital in Bern has a portal and a smartphone app for online advice service. Hereby the investigators propose to explicitly investigate the efficacy of this system in reducing healthcare costs as compared to traditional face-to-face consultations, in a cohort of patients with mild-to-moderate acne vulgaris.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

Conditions

Acne Vulgaris

Interventions

Patients will be assessed and followed-up by trained physicians through a store-and-forward system (teledermatology online service - Evita® app), which allows patients to upload pictures of skin areas affected by acne as well as their symptoms or questions related to their disease.

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 YearsMax age: 28 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Given written informed consent * Mild-to-moderate acne as assessed by IGA scale * Willingness and ability to adhere the study protocol Exclusion Criteria: * Need for systemic therapy for acne with Isotretinoin * Inability to use the teledermatology system

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Total time spent by dermatologist after baseline

Total cumulative time spent by dermatologist for face-to-face consultations or online assessments after baseline.

Time frame: 4 months

Secondary Outcomes

Total time spent by patient after baseline

Total cumulative time spent by patient for visit-related travels and/or online procedures after baseline.

Time frame: 4 months

Acne severity improvement

Acne severity improvement from baseline as assessed by 5-point ordinal investigator's global assessment (IGA) scale, ranging from 1 to 5, with higher scores indicating a worse outcome.

Time frame: 2, 4 and 6 months

Number of therapies prescribed for acne

Time frame: 2, 4 and 6 months

Patient study satisfaction

Overall patient satisfaction regarding the service received during the study as assessed by 11-point anchored visual analogue scale (VAS), ranging from 0 to 10, with higher scores indicating a better outcome.

Time frame: 6 months

Patient quality of life improvement

Patient quality of life improvement from baseline as assessed by dermatology life quality index (DLQI), ranging from 0 to 30, with higher scores indicating a worse outcome.