Comparative efficacy of e-health interventions on symptom burden in patients with cancer: A network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
摘要
To compare the efficacy of different delivery formats of e-health interventions in improving symptom burden in patients with cancer.
MethodsA network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials was conducted. Six databases were searched from inception to December 30, 2025. Two reviewers independently screened the studies and extracted the data. The quality of included studies was evaluated via the Cochrane risk of bias tool RoB 2. A pairwise meta-analysis and a network meta-analysis were performed sequentially to determine the efficacy of different delivery formats of e-health interventions in improving symptom burden in patients with cancer.
ResultsA total of 23 studies were included, covering six different delivery formats of e-health interventions. The app-based e-health interventions significantly improved symptom burden in patients with cancer relative to video-based e-health interventions and the control group. In terms of the network ranking results, app-based e-health interventions, website-based e-health interventions, and telephone-based e-health interventions ranked as the top three in improving symptom burden in patients with cancer.
ConclusionsThis NMA revealed that app-based, website-based, and telephone-based e-health interventions ranked among the top three in terms of efficacy for improving symptom burden in patients with cancer.
Implications for Cancer SurvivorsThese findings highlight the potential of e-health interventions in cancer symptom management and suggest that these promising interventions can be applied in clinical practice in the future.