[Telemedicine applications for monitoring inflammatory bowel disease and irritable bowel syndrome].

ABSTRACT

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) are chronic relapsing diseases with major impact on the patients' everyday life, and increasing incidences affect the burden on the healthcare system. This review summarises the evidence of telemedicine applications (TA) to patients suffering from IBD and IBS in Denmark and abroad. TA have been shown to reduce time-to-remission, increase quality of life and medical adherence, and reduce hospital admissions and outpatient visits in adult patients with IBD. In paediatric patients with IBD, TA have been shown to reduce the need of outpatient visits, the number of school absences, and the symptom scores.