Multimedia Platform-based Home Care Management for Elderly Patients with Diabetes

With the acceleration of population aging, poor blood glucose control and elevated cardiovascular complication risk among older adults with diabetes mellitus (DM) have emerged as significant public health challenges. This study conducted a retrospective, nonrandomized cohort analysis to compare clinical outcomes between two groups of older adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) stratified by treatment period and to investigate the association between a multimedia platform-based home care model and glycemic control, cardiovascular outcomes, and other patient-related outcomes. A total of 167 older adults with DM were included (82 in the observation group and 85 in the control group). The control group received routine outpatient follow-up between January and August 2024, while the observation group received a 6-month comprehensive intervention via a hospital-developed WeChat mini-program after August 2024. After the 6-month intervention period, significant between-group differences in glycemic and lipid control were observed, with the observation group showing greater improvements from baseline (P < 0.05). A lower incidence of cardiovascular complications during the follow-up period was also observed in the observation group (P < 0.05). Additionally, the proportion of frailty in the observation group decreased from 45.12% to 20.73% after the intervention, and improvements in self-management capability and quality of life (assessed at 6 months post-intervention) were observed in this group. These observed between-group differences may be partially explained by the behavioral reinforcement, personalized intervention strategies, and multi-risk factor management integrated into the multimedia platform model. Despite limitations including a single-center design and nonrandomized grouping, this model shows preliminary promise for optimizing home-based chronic disease management for older adults with diabetes. Further large-scale, randomized controlled studies are needed to validate these findings and explore the integration of intelligent devices to expand their clinical utility.