Evidence mapPaperPMID 41270280Full record

SynthesisJournal of medical Internet research2025

Impact of Digital Interventions on the Treatment Burden of Patients With Chronic Conditions: Systematic Review.

Manria Polus, Pantea Keikhosrokiani, Olli Korhonen, Woubshet Behutiye, Minna Isomursu

Abstract readSystematic Review
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Journal of medical Internet research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Manria PolusFaculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1970-1339
Pantea KeikhosrokianiFaculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4705-2732
Olli KorhonenFaculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7214-2161
Woubshet BehutiyeFaculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9015-9941
Minna IsomursuFaculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0161-1837

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundDigital interventions can provide cost-effective, quality health care for patients with chronic conditions. Patients with chronic conditions often are burdened by a substantial load of adhering to a treatment regimen and suffer from impacts on their function and well-being. This treatment burden has consequences for treatment adherence and disease outcomes. Digital interventions have the potential to alleviate the burden, but they also may cause new challenges and an increased workload for the patient. Previous reviews have examined digital interventions or treatment burden separately, but there is a lack of systematic reviews on the intersection of digital interventions, treatment burden, and chronic conditions.

objectiveThis systematic review aimed to evaluate the evidence of how digital interventions impact the treatment burden experienced by people with chronic conditions, and to assess the quality of this evidence.

methodsWe searched databases PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, ACM, PubMed Central, and CINAHL for articles published between January 1, 2013, and June 17, 2025. We included studies that had key topics related to chronic conditions, treatment burden, and digital interventions. A total of 2 reviewers independently screened the articles in 2 stages, extracted data on study design, participant characteristics, intervention type, and treatment burden outcomes from included articles, and assessed their quality using the Critical Appraisal tools from the Joanna Briggs Institute. A convergent integrated approach was used for data synthesis and integration, where quantitative data were converted into qualitative data, and the qualitative and quantitative evidence were analyzed and categorized together.

resultsWe included 46 relevant studies in total. We categorized the interventions into 4 types: Telehealth, informational resources, self-management tools, and facilitated tools. The results of this study indicate that digital interventions mostly support patients with chronic conditions with their treatment burden, with minor concerns of increasing treatment burden. The main benefits are support with self-management, informational support, and easier ways to contact health care professionals. The main concerns were accessibility issues, time-consuming tools, and causing fear and anxiety.

conclusionsOur findings demonstrate how treatment burden is a relevant concept for future digital health care research and practice. Digital interventions can help patients with their treatment burden by supporting self-management, improving access to health care, improving patients' experience, and addressing relevant concerns. More research is needed about conditions with low or medium initial treatment burden. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): RR2-10.2196/54833.

Indexed as

Cost of IllnessChronic DiseaseHumansTelemedicinechronic conditionchronic illnessdigital healthdigital interventioneHealthinformational resourcesmHealthself-managementsystematic reviewtelehealthtreatment adherencetreatment burden

Identifiers

PMID41270280
PMCPMC12680937

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.