Benefits of mHealth for Symptom Management of Cancer Patients: A Meta-Analysis (Preprint)

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiarong Li ◽  
Mingxia Chen ◽  
Wang Su ◽  
Changying Liu ◽  
Linglong Liu

BACKGROUND At the present, cancer patients are experiencing symptoms that can seriously influence their quality of life. There are many mobile health applications in Internet medical services to manage those symptoms. However, further research is needed to see whether mobile health can provide benefits to cancer patients. OBJECTIVE The meta-analysis aimed to value the benefits of mHealth for depression, anxiety, pain, fatigue, and insomnia outcomes of cancer patients. METHODS We searched PubMed, CINHAL, Web of Science, Cochrane library Trials, EMBASE database to select random clinic trials that investigated the benefits of mHealth for cancer patients, from the date of inception to 17 April 2021. RESULTS Eight random clinic trials were eligible for this meta-analysis. Collectively, mHealth group has 1641 participants, the control group has 1463 participants. The meta-analysis revealed that the mHealth intervention improves significantly cancer patients’ fatigue(SMD −0.19, 95% CI −0.32 to −0.05),P= .007), insomnia(SMD −0.26, 95% CI −0.44 to −0.08, P= .005), depression(SMD −0.22, 95% CI −0.32 to −0.13,P<0.00001), and anxiety(SMD −0.27, 95% CI −0.47 to −0.07, P= .008), whereas no significant difference was found in pain score (SMD -0.27, 95%CI −0.68 to 0.13,P= .19). CONCLUSIONS mHealth intervention may significantly improve depression, anxiety, fatigue, and insomnia outcomes of cancer patients, but have no significant effort on pain. CLINICALTRIAL This meta-analysis was registered with The International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) , registration number is: CRD42021272537.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Xin Chen ◽  
Pei Zhao ◽  
ZhuLiduzi Jiesisibieke ◽  
Pei-En Chen ◽  
Tao-Hsin Tung ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: To assess the relationship between delivery mode and postpartum depression and to examine whether cesarean section (CS) has a higher risk of postpartum depression than vaginal delivery (VD). Methods: We searched the Cochrane Library, PubMed, and EMBASE from inception to 30 April 2019 without language limitations. Two authors independently selected studies, assessed the quality of included studies, and extracted data. Any disagreements were resolved by discussion with a third author. We used the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale and GRADE methods to assess the quality of the included studies and evidences. This study had four included cohort studies data and carried out fixed-effect model meta-analysis. Results: The findings demonstrated a significant difference in the risk of postpartum depression between CS and VD. Compared with the control group, the CS group was associated with a higher prevalence of postpartum depression symptoms (Risk Ratio =1.29; 95% CI: 1.11-1.51). Conclusions: The findings supported a relationship between delivery mode and postpartum depression. Particularly, we found that CS is associated with a higher risk of postpartum depression. Therefore, we ought to encourage pregnant women who are without medical indication of CS to select VD.r Trial registration: The protocol of this systematic review was registered in the PROSPERO under the number CRD42019148154.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Xin Chen ◽  
Pei Zhao ◽  
Zhu Liduzi Jiesisibieke ◽  
Pei-En Chen ◽  
Tao-Hsin Tung ◽  
...  

Abstract Background To assess the relationship between delivery mode and postpartum depression and to examine whether cesarean section (CS) has a higher risk of postpartum depression than vaginal delivery (VD). Methods We searched the Cochrane Library, PubMed, and EMBASE from inception to 30 April 2019 without language limitations. Then two authors independently selected the studies, assessed the quality of the included studies, and extracted data. Any disagreements were resolved by discussion with a third author. Next, we used the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale and GRADE methods are used to evaluate the quality of the included studies and evidences, respectively. This study had four included cohort studies data and carried out fixed-effect model meta-analysis. Results The findings demonstrated a significant difference in the risk of postpartum depression between CS and VD. Compared with the control group, the CS group was associated with a higher prevalence of postpartum depression symptoms (Risk Ratio = 1.29; 95% CI: 1.11–1.51). Conclusions The results showed that delivery mode has nonnegligible effects on the risk of postpartum depression. Particularly, we found that CS is associated with a higher risk of postpartum depression compared with VD. Therefore, we ought to encourage pregnant women who are without medical indication of CS to select VD. Trial registration: The protocol of this systematic review was registered in PROSPERO under the number CRD42019148154.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-82
Author(s):  
Johannes Knoch

Background: Mobile health applications are increasingly used in patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) to improve their self-management, nonetheless, without firm evidence of their efficacy. This meta-analysis was aimed to assess the efficacy of mobile health applications in supporting self-management as an intervention to reduce hospital admission rates and average days of hospitalization, etc. Methods: PubMed, Web of Science (SCI), Cochrane Library, and Embase were searched for relevant articles published before November 14th, 2017. A total of 6 reports with randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were finally included in this meta-analysis. Results: Patients using mobile phone applications may have a lower risk for hospital admissions than those in the usual care group (risk ratio (RR) = 0.73, 95% CI [0.52, 1.04]). However, there was no significant difference in reducing the average days of hospitalization. Conclusion: Self-management with mobile phone applications could reduce hospital admissions of patients with COPD.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Yonghui Hou ◽  
Ying Liu ◽  
Minying Li ◽  
Baile Ning ◽  
Zehuai Wen ◽  
...  

Objectives. To systematically assess the efficacy of acupuncture combined with rehabilitation on unilateral neglect after stroke. Methods. The Cochrane Library, PubMed, Excerpt Medical Database (EMBASE), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), China Science and Technology Journal Database (VIP), Chinese Biomedical Literature Database (CBM), and Wan Fang databases were searched online for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of acupuncture and its effects on unilateral neglect after stroke from their inception to September 2019. RCTs on acupuncture combined with rehabilitation in the experimental group for unilateral neglect compared with rehabilitation alone or rehabilitation plus sham acupuncture in the control group were included. Two authors separately screened the literature, extracted the data, and evaluated the quality of the included studies. Review Manager 5.3 software was used for the data analysis. Results. A total of 542 patients from nine RCTs were included. The meta-analysis showed that the experimental groups could significantly improve Fugl–Meyer Assessment (FMA) (MD = 11.54, 95% CI [9.54, 13.54], P<0.00001) and the ability of daily living (SMD = 1.35, 95% CI [0.64, 2.07], P<0.00001) when compared with the control groups. However, there was no significant difference in the drop of Catherine Bergego Scale (CBS) and Behavioural Inattention Test-conventional (BIT-C) between the two groups. Conclusions. Acupuncture combined with rehabilitation was more effective in improving the motor function and the ability of daily living. Because of the limitations regarding the quantity and quality of the studies in this meta-analysis, high-quality and well-designed RCTs are necessary to validate the above conclusions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhenzhen Feng ◽  
Jiajia Wang ◽  
Yang Xie ◽  
Jiansheng Li

Abstract Background Pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) has been proposed as an effective method for many respiratory diseases. However, the effects of exercise-based PR on asthma are currently inconclusive. This review aimed to investigate the effects of exercise-based PR on adults with asthma. Methods The PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, International Clinical Trials Registry Platform and ClinicalTrials.gov databases were searched from inception to 31 July 2019 without language restriction. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating the effects of exercise-based PR on adults with asthma were included. Study selection, data extraction and risk of bias assessment were performed by two investigators independently. Meta-analysis was conducted by RevMan software (version 5.3). Evidence quality was rated by the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) system. Results Ten literatures from nine studies (n = 418 patients) were identified. Asthma quality of life questionnaire total scores (MD = 0.39, 95% CI: 0.02 to 0.76) improved significantly in the experimental group compared to control group, including activity domain scores (MD = 0.58, 95% CI: 0.21 to 0.94), symptom domain scores (MD = 0.52, 95% CI: 0.19 to 0.85), emotion domain scores (MD = 0.53, 95% CI: − 0.03 to 1.09) and environment domain scores (MD = 0.56, 95% CI: 0.00 to 1.11). Both the 6-min walk distance (MD = 34.09, 95% CI: 2.51 to 65.66) and maximum oxygen uptake (MD = 4.45, 95% CI: 3.32 to 5.58) significantly improved. However, improvements in asthma control questionnaire scores (MD = − 0.25, 95% CI: − 0.51 to 0.02) and asthma symptom-free days (MD = 3.35, 95% CI: − 0.21 to 6.90) were not significant. Moreover, there was no significant improvement (MD = 0.10, 95% CI: − 0.08 to 0.29) in forced expiratory volume in 1 s. Nonetheless, improvements in forced vital capacity (MD = 0.23, 95% CI: 0.08 to 0.38) and peak expiratory flow (MD = 0.39, 95% CI: 0.21 to 0.57) were significant. Conclusions Exercise-based PR may improve quality of life, exercise tolerance and some aspects of pulmonary function in adults with asthma and can be considered a supplementary therapy. RCTs of high quality and large sample sizes are required. Clinical trial registration: The review was registered with PROSPERO (The website is https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/, and the ID is CRD42019147107).


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xu Tian ◽  
Yan-Fei Jin ◽  
Zhao-Li Zhang ◽  
Hui Chen ◽  
Wei-Qing Chen ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Enteral immunonutrition (EIN) has been extensively applied in cancer patients, however its role in esophageal cancer (EC) patients receiving esophagectomy remains unclear. We performed this network meta-analysis to investigate the impact of EIN on patients undergoing surgery for EC and further determine the optimal time of applying EIN.Methods: We searched PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane library, and China National Knowledgement Infrastructure (CNKI) to identify eligible studies. Categorical data was expressed as the odds ratio with 95% confidence interval (CI), and continuous data was expressed as mean difference (MD) with 95% CI. Pair-wise and network meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the impact of EIN on clinical outcomes using RevMan 5.3 and ADDIS V.1.16.8 softwares. The surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA) was calculated to rank all nutritional regimes.Results: Total 14 studies involving 1071 patients were included. Pair-wise meta-analysis indicated no difference between EIN regardless of the application time and standard EN (SEN), however subgroup analyses found that postoperative EIN was associated with decreased incidence of total infectious complications (OR=0.47; 95%CI=0.26 to 0.84; p=0.01) and pneumonia (OR=0.47; 95%CI=0.25 to 0.90; p=0.02) and shortened LOH (MD=-1.01; 95%CI=-1.44 to -0.57; p<0.001) compared to SEN, which were all supported by network meta-analyses. Ranking probability analysis further indicated that postoperative EIN has the highest probability of being the optimal option in terms of these three outcomes.Conclusions: Postoperative EIN should be preferentially utilized in EC patients undergoing esophagectomy because it has optimal potential of decreasing the risk of total infectious complications and pneumonia and shortening LOH.OSF registration number: 10.17605/OSF.IO/KJ9UY.


PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. e0247662
Author(s):  
Jingjing He ◽  
Desheng Kong ◽  
Zhifen Yang ◽  
Ruiyun Guo ◽  
Asiamah Ernest Amponsah ◽  
...  

Background Diabetes mellitus as a chronic metabolic disease is threatening human health seriously. Although numerous clinical trials have been registered for the treatment of diabetes with stem cells, no articles have been published to summarize the efficacy and safety of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Methods and findings The aim of this study was to systematically review the evidence from RCTs and, where possible, conduct meta-analyses to provide a reliable numerical summary and the most comprehensive assessment of therapeutic efficacy and safety with MSCs in diabetes. PubMed, Web of Science, Ovid, the Cochrane Library and CNKI were searched. The retrieval time was from establishment of these databases to January 4, 2020. Seven RCTs were eligible for analysis, including 413 participants. Meta-analysis results showed that there were no significant differences in the reduction of fasting plasma glucose (FPG) compared to the baseline [mean difference (MD) = -1.05, 95% confidence interval (CI) (-2.26,0.16), P<0.01, I2 = 94%] and the control group [MD = -0.62, 95%CI (-1.46,0.23), P<0.01, I2 = 87%]. The MSCs treatment group showed a significant decrease in hemoglobin (Hb) A1c [random-effects, MD = -1.32, 95%CI (-2.06, -0.57), P<0.01, I2 = 90%] after treatment. Additionally, HbA1c reduced more significantly in MSC treatment group than in control group [random-effects, MD = -0.87, 95%CI (-1.53, -0.22), P<0.01, I2 = 82%] at the end of follow-up. However, as for fasting C-peptide levels, the estimated pooled MD showed that there was no significant increase [MD = -0.07, 95%CI (-0.30, 0.16), P<0.01, I2 = 94%] in MSCs treatment group compared with that in control group. Notably, there was no significant difference in the incidence of adverse events between MSCs treatment group and control group [relative risk (RR) = 0.98, 95%CI (0.72, 1.32), P = 0.02, I2 = 70%]. The most commonly observed adverse reaction in the MSC treatment group was hypoglycemia (29.95%). Conclusions This meta-analysis revealed MSCs therapy may be an effective and safe intervention in subjects with diabetes. However, due to the limited studies, a number of high-quality as well as large-scale RCTs should be performed to confirm these conclusions.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingfeng Lin ◽  
Qiang Gao ◽  
Kang Xiao ◽  
Danfeng Tian ◽  
Wenyue Hu ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) is an acute, paralyzing, inflammatory peripheral nerve disease. For treatments of the Guillain-Barre Syndrome, there are many kinds of therapies for this diseases. For comparing all of the therapies, such as immunoglobulin, plasma exchanging, etc. in the treatment of Guillain-Barre Syndrome(GBS) to better inform clinical practice, we use Network meta analysis to get the outcome of the Guillain-Barre Syndrome. The protocol has been submitted to PROSPERO:CRD: 42019119178. Methods Web of Science, PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane library were searched for related articles. We identified citations of these and included 26 trials comprising 2434 patients and control group human beings. Network meta-analysis (NMA) was performed with two kinds of outcomes. We carried on R software with gemtc package and JAGS software to calculate results for different therapies. The consistency of direct and indirect evidence was also assessed by R software. Results Concerning for two outcomes, there were no improvement observed in MTP and Pred compared with placebo. PE and IVIg were illustrated to be effective over Placebo. There was no significant difference between different doses and times of PE and IVIg. On consistency examination between direct and indirect evidences, there were no obvious heterogeneity between all of therapies. Funnel plots indicates the possibility of publication bias in this study are small. Conclusion PE or IVIg had a significant efficency for GBS patients. The effects of some combination treatments should be further explored. Corticosteroids had no significant effects on GBS.


Author(s):  
Zhiwei ZHANG ◽  
Bojun LI ◽  
Zhichao WANG ◽  
Lina WU ◽  
Lili SONG ◽  
...  

Background: We aimed to systematically evaluate the efficacy of high-voltage pulsed current (HVPC) in the treatment of pressure ulcer. Methods: We searched the databases of PubMed, Cochrane Library, Elsevier and EMBASE to identify randomized controlled studies on the application of HVPC in pressure ulcer treatment, up to January 2019. Two authors independently screened the literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, extracted the data and evaluated the quality. RevMan 5.3 software was used for statistical analysis. Four randomized controlled trials involving a total of 176 patients were included in the study. Results: Meta-analysis showed that the percentage of wound area reduction in the HVPC treatment group was higher than that in the control group (95%CI 24.59, 47.76, P<0.001). Descriptive analysis showed that there was no significant difference in wound healing between the HVPC treatment group and the control group. One study reported that there was contact dermatitis, and the rest of the studies reported no adverse events. Conclusion: Compared with the conventional therapy, the combination with HVPC therapy can reduce the area of pressure ulcers more effectively. However, due to the small number of the studies included in this evaluation, the conclusions need to be verified by more high-quality studies.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Chengxin Li ◽  
Zhizhuo Li ◽  
Qiwei Wang ◽  
Lijun Shi ◽  
Fuqiang Gao ◽  
...  

Objectives. The necessity of fibular fixation in distal tibia-fibula fractures remains controversial. This study aimed to assess its impact on radiographic outcomes as well as rates of nonunion and infection. Methods. A systematic search of the electronic databases of PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane library was performed to identify studies comparing the outcomes of reduction and internal fixation of the tibia with or without fibular fixation. Radiographic outcomes included malalignment and malrotation of the tibial shaft. Data regarding varus/valgus angulation, anterior/posterior angulation, internal/external rotation deformity, and the rates of nonunion and infection were extracted and then polled. A meta-analysis was performed using the random-effects model for heterogeneity. Results. Additional fibular fixation was statistically associated with a decreased rate of rotation deformity (OR = 0.13; 95% CI 0.02–0.82,p=0.03). However, there was no difference in the rate of malreduction between the trial group and the control group (OR = 0.86; 95% CI 0.27–2.74,p=0.80). There was also no difference in radiographic outcomes of varus-valgus deformity rate (OR = 0.17; 95% CI 0.03–1.00,p=0.05) or anterior-posterior deformity rate (OR = 0.76; 95% CI 0.02–36.91,p=0.89) between the two groups. Meanwhile, statistical analysis showed no significant difference in the nonunion rate (OR = 0.62; 95% CI 0.37–1.02,p=0.06) or the infection rate (OR = 0.81; 95% CI 0.18–3.67,p=0.78) between the two groups. Conclusions. Additional fibular fixation does not appear to reduce the rate of varus-valgus deformity, anterior-posterior deformity, or malreduction. Meanwhile, it does not appear to impair the union process or increase the odds of infection. However, additional fibular fixation was associated with decreased odds of rotation deformity compared to controls.


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