Telemedicine services for women with gestational diabetes mellitus during the COVID-19 pandemic: A review study

The outbreak of the emerging COVID-19 virus is a public health emergency. According to the latest studies, women with gestational diabetes mellitus are at a greater risk for this virus. Due to the need for quarantine and the limitation of physical contact in the current situation and the need for women with gestational diabetes mellitus to receive repeated services, this review study aimed to assess the use of telemedicine services for women with gestational diabetes mellitus during COVID-19 pandemic.

Data sources:

 The PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus, Science Direct, Wiley Online Library, and Springer databases were investigated with the keywords of COVID-19 and gestational diabetes mellitus in combination with the telemedicine and articles over the past 10 years were analyzed.

Selection methods for study:

 In the electronic searches, 61 articles and 5 English and Persian guidelines were retrieved. Then, older and repetitive articles were removed, and after reviewing the title and abstract of studies, 6 English articles and 3 guidelines were analyzed.

According to the results of the studies, face-to-face visits should be accompanied by ultrasound appointments. Postpartum diabetes screening should be delayed for 3-6 months. Compared to routine care, telemedicine services were associated with reduced polyhydramnios, premature rupture of membranes, preterm labor, emergency cesarean section, and neonatal asphyxia in women with gestational diabetes mellitus.

The use of telemedicine services for women with gestational diabetes in the context of the outbreak of coronavirus is an appropriate and cost-effective way to prevent the COVID-19 and to reduce the risks of gestational diabetes; it also reduces the anxiety in the women.