Effects of Telehomecare Interventions on the Management and Complications of Diabetes Mellitus: Protocol for a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Diabetes is one of the most serious health challenges of the 21st century. The number of adults with diabetes has roughly tripled in the last 20 years. The increased burden of chronic diseases and scarce health resources compel healthcare systems to make modern patients more self-sufficient by requiring them to play a more active part in the treatment and management of their disease. Tele-home-care is a method of distance intervention through the transmission of electronic data for follow-up, education, prevention, clinical decision-making, and treatment modulation that has a high potential for the population with diabetes. Previous studies have not systematically evaluated the effects of different features of long-distance caregiving on diabetes at different stages of disease severity.

The present study describes a protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis for summarizing the evidence comparing telehomecare interventions on diabetes management and its complications.

PubMed, Scopus, ISI Web of Science, Cochrane databases, HTA (Health Technology Assessment), NHS EED (NHS Economic Evaluation Database), DARE (Database of Abstract of  Reviews of Effects), Embase, and SID will be searched using medical subject heading (MeSH) keywords. Controlled clinical trials in patients with type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, and gestational diabetes will be selected based on predefined eligibility criteria. The risk of bias in studies will be checked using the JADAD score. The mean difference and its standard deviation will be calculated to be used as effect size. A random-effects meta-analysis was performed to pool the results. Subgroup analysis and meta-regression will be conducted to explore the possible sources of heterogeneity.

The systematic review and meta-analysis provided by the results of a systematic review can be useful to endocrinologists, physicians, public health policymakers, and the general population.