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

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Acne Vulgaris
• Interventions: Device: Teledermatology; Other: Face-to-face consultation

• Registration Number: NCT04593004
• Lead Sponsor: Insel Gruppe AG, University Hospital Bern

Brief Summary

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.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study Start: 2020-10-07
• Study First Submitted: 2020-10-09
• Study First Submitted QC: 2020-10-16
• Study First Posted: 2020-10-19
• Primary Completion: 2022-06-20
• Study Completion: 2022-06-20
• Status Verified: 2024-12
• Last Update Submitted: 2024-12-03
• Last Update Posted: 2024-12-06

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 24

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

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Teledermatology	Teledermatology	-
Face-to-face consultation	Face-to-face consultation	-

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Total time spent by dermatologist after baseline	4 months	Total cumulative time spent by dermatologist for face-to-face consultations or online assessments after baseline.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Number of therapies prescribed for acne	2, 4 and 6 months
Patient study satisfaction	6 months	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.
Total time spent by patient after baseline	4 months	Total cumulative time spent by patient for visit-related travels and/or online procedures after baseline.
Acne severity improvement	2, 4 and 6 months	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.
Patient quality of life improvement	6 months	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.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Department of dermatology, University Hospital Inselspital, Bern; 🇨🇭 Bern, Switzerland