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Call me maybe? Telephone clinics for coeliac disease dietetic services
  1. Lisa Vokes1,
  2. Michael FitzPatrick2
  1. 1 Nutrition and Dietetics, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, Oxfordshire, UK
  2. 2 Translational Gastroenterology Unit, Oxford University, Oxford, Oxfordshire, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Michael FitzPatrick, Translational Gastroenterology Unit, Oxford University, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK; michael.fitzpatrick{at}ndm.ox.ac.uk

https://doi.org/10.1136/flgastro-2020-101694

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    The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the large-scale rollout of ‘telemedicine’ for outpatient appointments. Therefore, the publication of a study that rigorously examines the efficacy of this approach within gastroenterology is a welcome contribution, and prescient of the authors given that this work was conceived well before we had heard of SARS-CoV-2. As the only therapy for coeliac disease (CD) is a gluten-free diet (GFD), it is especially laudable to see work conceived by, performed, and reported by dietitians. Furthermore, the title indicates that this approach is effective for improving GFD adherence at 6 months. Voila? Let’s take a closer look.

    Muhammad and colleagues performed a prospective, single-centre, controlled study of personalised dietary advice for adult patients with histologically confirmed CD.1 The intervention group consisted of patients not adhering to a GFD, while the remaining adherent patients became the control group. All participants were assessed at baseline and up to a year postintervention using validated tools: assessment of GFD adherence (Coeliac Disease Adherence Test (CDAT)), quality of life (Coeliac Disease Assessment Questionnaire (CDAQ)) and GFD knowledge (GF knowledge questionnaire). The intervention comprised a single telephone consultation with a consultant gastroenterologist, during which previously posted literature covering CD and GFD (developed with a registered dietitian) was discussed.

    Patients in the intervention group were satisfied with the …

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    Footnotes

    • Twitter @Doctorfitz

    • Contributors LV and MF conceived and wrote the article.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

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