A review of the use and effectiveness of digital health technologies in patients with asthma

Unni, Elizabeth J.; Gabriel, Stuart A.; Ariely, Rinat

doi:10.1016/j.anai.2018.10.016

Cited by 41 publications

(41 citation statements)

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“…However, none of the reviews provide a comprehensive and current overview of the field. Some of these reviews examine a general population, including both children and adults [9,11,12], while those reviews that limit the scope to children and young people focus on particular technologies or outcomes [10,14,15]. Additionally, no reviews were found that examined how the technologies are integrated into current clinical care pathways for children and adolescents with asthma.…”

Section: Rationalementioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, this review was published in 2014, and given the rapid evolution of digital technology [16], the state of the field has changed since the review was conducted; for instance, electronic inhaler monitoring is a relatively new development [17,18], with smart inhalers only recently becoming commercially available [19]. Unni et al's review [9] did analyse studies of children and adults separately, but only 16 studies concerning children were included. The review does include a wide range of outcomesadherence, health outcomes, and user perceptions -but only PubMed and EMBASE databases were searched for the study, which raises the concern that some relevant studies might have been missed [9].…”

Section: Rationalementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unni et al's review [9] did analyse studies of children and adults separately, but only 16 studies concerning children were included. The review does include a wide range of outcomesadherence, health outcomes, and user perceptions -but only PubMed and EMBASE databases were searched for the study, which raises the concern that some relevant studies might have been missed [9].…”

Section: Rationalementioning

confidence: 99%

“…A large, and growing, number of digital technologies have been developed to help support the care and self-management of people with asthma [7][8][9]. Previous systematic reviews have found that digital interventions can help support asthma health management, particularly by improving medication adherence [10,11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous systematic reviews have found that digital interventions can help support asthma health management, particularly by improving medication adherence [10,11]. However, other reviews have identified mixed results in terms of effectiveness (depending on the outcome examined) [9] and app quality [8]. Reviews have also identified limitations in the literature such as inadequate descriptions of the digital interventions, a lack of economic analyses, and small sample sizes [10,12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Digital technologies for monitoring and improving treatment adherence in children and adolescents with asthma: A scoping review of randomised controlled trials

Milne‐Ives

Meinert

2021

Preprint

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Background: Inadequate paediatric asthma care has resulted in potentially avoidable unplanned hospital admissions and morbidity. A wide variety of digital technologies have been developed to help monitor and support treatment adherence for children and adolescents with asthma. However, existing reviews need to be updated and expanded to provide an overview of the current state of research around these technologies and how they are being integrated into existing healthcare services and care pathways. Objective: The purpose of this scoping review is to provide an overview of the current research landscape and knowledge gaps regarding the use of digital technologies to support the care of children and adolescents with asthma. Methods: The review was structured according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) and Population, Intervention, Comparator, Outcome, and Study (PICOS) frameworks. Five databases (PubMed, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Web of Science, EMBASE, and PsycINFO) were systematically searched for studies published in English from 2014 on. One reviewer screened references, selected studies for inclusion based on the eligibility criteria, and extracted the data, which were synthesised in a descriptive analysis. Results: A wide variety in study characteristics - including the number and age of participants, study duration, and type of digital intervention - was identified. There was mixed evidence for the effectiveness of the interventions; 6 of the 9 studies that evaluated treatment adherence found improvements, but the evidence was inconsistent for asthma control (4/9 found no evidence of effectiveness, and only one found significant evidence) and health outcome variables (4/7 found no evidence of effectiveness). The 5 studies that examined patient perceptions and assessments of acceptability and usability had generally positive findings. Conclusions: Despite the range of different digital interventions being developed to support the monitoring and treatment adherence of children and adolescents with asthma, there is limited evidence to suggest that they achieve their range of intended outcomes. Stronger evidence of their effectiveness at achieving their specific aims is needed, as this will support decisions and research about their cost-effectiveness and how these technologies can best integrate with existing clinical care pathways. This research is necessary to determine which interventions are worth supporting and adopting in the clinical care pathways.

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