Effectiveness of e-health interventions for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting: a systematic review and meta-analysis

The goal of this systematic review was to examine the effectiveness of e-health interventions for chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV).

A literature search was conducted across the databases of PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, CINAHL, and Cochrane Library from database establishment to 3 March 2024. We included randomized controlled trials in English where the intervention group was via e-health. Two reviewers independently carried out the screening, data extraction, and quality appraisal of the studies. Using Stata 17.0, meta-analyses were conducted to synthesize the effects of outcomes of interest.

A total of 6663 studies were retrieved, with only 8 RCTs meeting criteria, involving 620 patients. Meta-analysis revealed that e-health interventions significantly reduce CINV severity (MD =  − 7.687; 95% CI − 11.903, − 3.326; p < 0.001). However, results regarding CINV incidence reduction and quality of life improvement are inconclusive due to variations in intervention content, modality, and frequency among studies.

e-health interventions may reduce the severity and incidence of CINV, while enhancing quality of life. However, the results should be interpreted cautiously. Higher quality studies are needed in the future to further validate the effectiveness of e-health interventions for CINV.