The effects of telemedicine on the quality of life of patients with lung cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Lanlan Pang; Zefu Liu; Sheng Lin; Zhidong Liu; Hengyu Liu; Zihang Mai; Zhuowei Liu; Chongxiang Chen; Qingyu Zhao

doi:10.1177/2040622320961597

The effects of telemedicine on the quality of life of patients with lung cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Ther Adv Chronic Dis. 2020 Oct 7:11:2040622320961597. doi: 10.1177/2040622320961597. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Lanlan Pang¹, Zefu Liu², Sheng Lin³, Zhidong Liu⁴, Hengyu Liu⁴, Zihang Mai⁴, Zhuowei Liu², Chongxiang Chen⁵, Qingyu Zhao⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Intensive Care Unit, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Centre, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Centre for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, China.
² Department of Urology, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Centre, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Centre for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou, China.
³ Department of pulmonary and critical care medicine, Shengli Clinical Medical College of Fujian Medical University, Fujian Provincial Hospital, Fuzhou, Fujian, China.
⁴ Zhongshan School of Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China.
⁵ Department of Intensive Care Unit, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Centre, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Centre for Cancer Medicine, Dongfeng East Road 651, Guangzhou 510060, China.
⁶ Department of Intensive Care Unit, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Centre, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Centre for Cancer Medicine, Guangzhou 510060, China.

Abstract

Background and aims: Lung cancer patients suffer from deterioration in their physical and psychological function, which exerts a negative influence on their quality of life (QOL). Telemedicine has been proven to be an effective intervention for patients with several chronic diseases. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to investigate the efficacy of telemedicine in improving QOL in lung cancer patients.

Methods: PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, Web of Science and Scopus databases were searched for randomized controlled trials that investigated the effectiveness of telemedicine in lung cancer patients. Review Manager 5.3 and Stata 15.1 were used to perform data analysis.

Results: Our meta-analysis included eight clinical trials with a total of 635 lung cancer patients. The results showed that the telemedicine group had significantly higher QOL than the usual care group [standard mean difference (SMD) 0.96, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.29-1.63, I ² = 91%]. In addition, the telemedicine group had lower anxiety (SMD -0.44, 95% CI -0.66 to -0.23, I ² = 3%) and depression scores (SMD -0.48, 95% CI -0.91 to -0.05, I ² = 66%) than the usual care group. However, no significant differences were found in fatigue and pain outcomes between the two groups.

Conclusion: Telemedicine may be an effective method of improving QOL in lung cancer patients and the further development and use of telemedicine care is recommended.

Keywords: lung cancer; quality of life; symptom burden; telemedicine.