![[Translate to English:] Porträt von PD Dr. Moritz Sinner, LMU Klinikum München](/fileadmin/_processed_/9/8/csm_2024-09-10_-Sinner_Moritz__6223_e7bfad25d7.jpg)
The COVID SMART study, a randomised, controlled clinical trial, compared the results of 607 Covid-19 patients who received either standard care or additional telemedical care via smartwatch monitoring and a medical hotline connection. While 9.6 per cent of patients in the control group were admitted to hospital or unexpectedly visited the emergency room within 30 days of infection, this figure was only 6.9 per cent in the intervention group. Despite this difference, the difference was not statistically significant.
However, the study showed a significant decrease in the utilisation of outpatient emergency services in the telemedicine group. These results suggest that telemedicine could be particularly beneficial for less severely ill Covid-19 patients by reducing unnecessary visits to the emergency department while providing continuous monitoring.
‘Our results suggest that telemedicine can be a valuable tool to improve the care of Covid-19 patients and at the same time reduce the burden on the healthcare system,’ says study leader and last author of the study, PD Dr Moritz Sinner from the Medical Clinic I at LMU Munich. ‘Particularly noteworthy is the reduced use of the emergency department, which indicates a benefit for patients who are not seriously ill but still need to be monitored,’ adds Dr Aenne von Falkenhausen, the first author of the study and a specialist at the LMU Hospital's Medical Clinic I.
The COVID SMART study emphasises the importance of innovative approaches in medical care, especially in times of a pandemic. The support of the DZHK enabled a comprehensive investigation of this potentially life-saving technology, which could play a crucial role in medical care in the future.
More on the study: DZHK-Studie COVID Smart
Original publikation:
Telemedical management of symptomatic Covid-19 outpatients Aenne S von Falkenhausen, Scott Geipel, Antonia Gail, Clemens Scherer, Sven Stockhausen, Lauren E Sams, Finn Becker, Philipp M Doldi, Eric Lemmermöhle, Paul de Villèle, Michael Schleef, Marc Becker, Moritz Lauterbach, Steffen Massberg, Stefan Kääb, Moritz F Sinner
ERJ Open Research 2024;10:00277-2024, DOI: 10.1183/23120541.00277-2024
Scientific contact:
PD Moritz Sinner, MD
Medical Clinic and Polyclinic I
LMU Hospital Munich
Tel: +49 89 4400-76159, moritz.sinner@med.uni-muenchen.de
