Effect of telehealth interventions on quality of life in cancer survivors: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials: A systematic review and meta-analysis for telehealth interventions in cancer survivors

Abstract Background With advances in cancer disease diagnosis and treatment, the trends of cancer survival continue to increase, but cancer survivors usually experience disease- or treatment-related problems (including both physiological and psychological problems) and poorer quality of life. Various types of telehealth interventions have been widespread in the field of medical care and have been shown to be cost-effective, to have high levels of patient satisfaction, and to have high acceptability among health professionals. Currently, there is no definite conclusion about the effectiveness of telehealth interventions on cancer survivors’ quality of life. Objectives To evaluate the effects of telehealth interventions on cancer survivors’ quality of life and compare the effectiveness of different types. Design A systematic review and meta-analysis Methods A systematic literature search was conducted in six databases (MEDLINE, Embase, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled trials, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Web of Science) to identify relevant studies from inception to 14 April 2021. Two reviewers independently screened studies and extracted the data. The Cochrane risk-of-bias tool was used to evaluate the quality of the included studies. Data synthesis was conducted in Review Manager (Version 5.3), and the quality of life scores were calculated by using the standard mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Sensitivity analysis and subgroup analysis were also conducted. Results Twenty-eight randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published from 2002 to 2020 were included. Meta-analysis revealed significant effects of telehealth interventions on cancer survivors’ quality of life (SMD = 0.24, 95% CI: 0.14-0.34, P Conclusion Telehealth interventions are effective and alternative methods for improving quality of life among cancer survivors. The most effective approach was application-based intervention, the most common approach was website-based intervention, and in terms of intervention durations, the short-term telehealth intervention was the most effective. Most telehealth interventions included breast cancer survivors. More large, well-designed RCTs are needed to confirm the effects of telehealth interventions on quality of life in cancer survivors.