The Application of Telemedicine to Pediatric Obesity: Lessons from the Past Decade

Telemedicine has been utilized to deliver pediatric weight management care in both rural and urban communities. This method of health care delivery may provide a solution to the many logistical obstacles to pediatric obesity management, including time, finances, and distance to programs. This review examines all studies in the past decade that employed telehealth communication directly between families and obesity specialists to treat pediatric obesity. To assess the practical use of such programs, studies that surveyed family satisfaction with this method of health care are also included. A comprehensive electronic database search was conducted in PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, CINAHL, and Cochrane Library databases. All studies demonstrated noninferiority in clinical efficacy as measured by weight status improvement in participants of either the telehealth cohort or the in-person cohort. Attrition rates were also not statistically significant between groups. Patient satisfaction with telemedicine delivery was high across studies. Lack of statistical significance in outcomes of these studies can be attributed to infrequent visits, limited duration of programs, and study size. Future research is needed to evaluate the effect on health outcomes as well as compliance when direct to consumer telemedicine visits are integrated in pediatric weight management clinics with more frequency and for longer duration. This method of telemedicine would allow for increased contact with patients and families in between face-to-face encounters. Telehealth provides the potential to create more robust, accessible, and effective pediatric weight management programs.