Disruptive telemedicine tools can help overcome the lack of specialized care and electroencephalographic (EEG) support for diagnosing and treating nervous system disorders such as epilepsy in remote communities. However, evidence on how such cloud-based platforms could enhance data-driven health care is limited. The utility of telemedicine-based apps to achieve EEG screening of communities in rural areas of Paraguay was investigated.

This descriptive study was carried out by the Telemedicine Unit of the Ministry of Public Health in collaboration with the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging of the Health Science Research Institute in Paraguay and the Basque Country University in Spain to evaluate the utility of telediagnostic apps for EEG screening. For this purpose, the results obtained by tele-EEG apps implemented in nineteen public community hospitals were analyzed to determine the utility of the apps as epidemiological surveillance tools.

Among the 10,791 remote EEG studies performed, the most common reasons for the test included epileptic seizure (44%), headache (22%), seizure disorder (8%), follow up (6%), attention deficits in children (5%), cognitive impairment (4%), cranioencephalic trauma (3%), brain death (1%), history of seizure (0.9%), abnormal movements (0.7%), and behavioral disorders (0.5%).

The results showed that telemedicine apps can significantly enhance nationwide EEG screening by freeing up professional time and increasing productivity, improving access and equity, and reducing costs. However, before their systematic implementation a contextualization of the apps using the regional epidemiological profile must be performed.