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

NCT04593004 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 2019-00620
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 24
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

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.

Conditions

Acne Vulgaris

Keywords

acne; telemedicine; teledermatology

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Total time spent by dermatologist after baseline

  Total cumulative time spent by dermatologist for face-to-face consultations or online assessments after baseline.

  4 months

Secondary Outcomes (5)

• Total time spent by patient after baseline

  4 months

• Acne severity improvement

  2, 4 and 6 months

• Number of therapies prescribed for acne

  2, 4 and 6 months

• Patient study satisfaction

  6 months

• Patient quality of life improvement

  6 months

Study Arms (2)

Teledermatology

EXPERIMENTAL

Device: Teledermatology

Face-to-face consultation

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Other: Face-to-face consultation

Interventions

Teledermatology DEVICE

Patients will be assessed and followed-up by trained physicians through a store-and-forward system (teledermatology online service - Evita® app), which allows patients to upload pictures of skin areas affected by acne as well as their symptoms or questions related to their disease.

Teledermatology

Face-to-face consultation OTHER

Patients will be assessed and followed-up by trained physicians through regular face-to-face outpatient consultations.

Face-to-face consultation

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 28 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• Given written informed consent
• Mild-to-moderate acne as assessed by IGA scale
• Willingness and ability to adhere the study protocol

You may not qualify if:

• Need for systemic therapy for acne with Isotretinoin
• Inability to use the teledermatology system

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Insel Gruppe AG, University Hospital Bern: lead

Study Sites (1)

Department of dermatology, University Hospital Inselspital, Bern

Bern, 3010, Switzerland

Location

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Acne Vulgaris

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Acneiform Eruptions; Skin Diseases; Skin and Connective Tissue Diseases; Sebaceous Gland Diseases

Study Officials

• Robert Hunger, MD

  Insel Gruppe AG, University Hospital Bern

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Model Details: 1:1 stratified random allocation

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: October 9, 2020
• First Posted: October 19, 2020
• Study Start: October 7, 2020
• Primary Completion: June 20, 2022
• Study Completion: June 20, 2022
• Last Updated: December 6, 2024

Record last verified: 2024-12

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

CH (1)