ReviewFrontiers in oncology2026
Effects of digital health interventions on anxiety, depression, and quality of life in colorectal cancer patients: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
Review in Frontiers in oncology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
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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.
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.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
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Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) patients generally experience distressing psychological symptoms, including anxiety and depression, which significantly diminish their quality of life. Digital health interventions have emerged as a promising complementary approach to managing these challenges. This meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials aimed to determine the effects of digital health interventions on anxiety, depression, and quality of life in CRC patients. Methods: A comprehensive literature search was conducted across ten databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, Embase, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, CNKI, VIP, WanFang, and CBM) from inception to February 28, 2026. Randomized controlled trials evaluating the effects of digital health interventions on anxiety, depression, and quality of life among CRC patients were eligible for inclusion. The Cochrane Risk of Bias tool 2.0 (ROB 2.0) was employed to assess methodological quality, and the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) framework was applied to grade the certainty of evidence for each outcome. A random-effects model was used for all quantitative syntheses. Results: A total of 15 randomized controlled trials comprising 2018 CRC patients were included. Pooled analyses revealed that digital health interventions were associated with a potential reduction in anxiety (SMD = -0.90, 95% CI: -1.59 to -0.22, I² = 93%, low certainty evidence) and depression (SMD = -0.93, 95% CI: -1.64 to -0.21, I² = 94%, low certainty evidence), and improvement in quality of life (SMD = 0.78, 95% CI: 0.19 to 1.36, I² = 96%, low certainty evidence) compared to control conditions. Conclusions: Our findings revealed that digital health interventions hold promise in reducing anxiety and depression and enhancing quality of life among CRC patients. Given the limitations posed by substantial heterogeneity and low evidence certainty, high-quality randomized controlled trials are required to establish more definitive conclusions.
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Registered trials
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.