Efficacy of Telemedicine for Patients with Chronic Wounds: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Objective: The meta-analysis was performed to summarize the available evidence and assess the efficacy of telemedicine for patients with chronic wounds. Approach: PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, The Cochrane Library, China Biology Medicine (CBM), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), WanFang, and VIP databases were electronically searched to identify eligible studies updated to February 2020 to collect randomized controlled trials regarding the efficacy of telemedicine for patients with chronic wounds. Two reviewers independently screened the literature, extracted data, and assessed the risk of bias of included studies with the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. A meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 and StataSE. Results: Fourteen studies involving 1,926 patients were included in the meta-analysis. Compared with usual care, telemedicine intervention significantly improved wound healing rate (risk ratio [RR] = 1.44, confidence interval [95% CI] = 1.16-1.80, p = 0.001) and reduced adverse events (RR = 0.52, 95% CI = 0.34-0.80, p = 0.003). No significant differences were found between patients allocated to the telemedicine group or usual care group, in terms of the outcomes of healing time, change in wound size, or mortality. Innovations: Telemedicine is an effective approach to promote chronic wound healing and reduce adverse events. Conclusion: The meta-analysis demonstrates that telemedicine may improve the healing rate and reduce adverse events for patients with chronic wounds. Because of the limited quality and quantity of the included studies, rigorous studies with adequate sample sizes are required to conclude with more confidence.