Effect of Technology-Supported Measures Used for Care Transition Decisions for Chronic Disease Patients: A Systematic...

To evaluate the impact of digital interventions used to support care transitions on health outcomes and hospital costs compared with usual clinical care for patients with chronic diseases, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis. A systematic search of Cochrane, ACM, Embase, MEDLINE, and PsycINFO was performed from database inception until 6 October 2023. Meta-analysis was conducted for hospitalisation outcomes, mortality rates, and cost-effectiveness, while quality of life, mobility and qualitative outcomes were summarised narratively. Following full-text screening, 34 studies were eligible for review. After excluding eight studies due to a high risk of bias, the final analysis included 25 studies comprising a total of 29,724 patients. The meta-analysis revealed a marginal but statistically significant reduction in hospitalisation rates (SMD = -0.07, 95% CI -0.13 to -0.01, p = 0.02) and a statistically significant reduction in mortality (OR = 0.71, 95% CI 0.58 to 0.85, p = 0.0003), favouring digital interventions. Digitally supported transitional care interventions suggest a potential trend toward supporting quality of life, although evidence was not conclusive. Future research should focus on digitalising established care transition models and evaluating technology's added value for effectiveness and user satisfaction.