BACKGROUND
Digital health interventions (DHI) have revolutionised the management of multiple sclerosis (MS). It is now understood that the technological elements that comprise DHIs can influence participant engagement and that people with MS (PwMS) can experience significant barriers to remaining enrolled in DHIs related to the use of these elements. It is essential to explore the influence of technological elements in mitigating attrition after allocation.
OBJECTIVE
We examined the study design and technological elements of documented DHIs targeted at PwMS and how these correlated with attrition among participants of randomised-controlled trials (RCTs).
METHODS
We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of RCTs (n=17) describing digital technologies for health interventions for PwMS. We analysed attrition of included studies using a random-effects model and meta-regression to measure the association between potential moderators.
RESULTS
There were no measured differences in attrition between intervention and control arms; however, some of the heterogeneity observed was explained by the composite technological element score. The pooled attrition rates for the intervention and control arms were 10.6% and 11.2% respectively.
CONCLUSIONS
Ultimately, this paper provides insight into the technological composition of DHIs and will aid in the design of future studies in this area.
Digital Health Interventions for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
