TY - JOUR
T1 - School-Based Telemedicine Interventions for Asthma
T2 - A Systematic Review
AU - Kim, Christopher H.
AU - Lieng, Monica K.
AU - Rylee, Tina L.
AU - Gee, Kevin A.
AU - Marcin, James P.
AU - Melnikow, Joy A.
PY - 2020/9/1
Y1 - 2020/9/1
N2 - Background: School health systems are increasingly investing in telemedicine platforms to address acute and chronic illnesses. Asthma, the most common chronic illness in childhood, is of particular interest given its high burden on school absenteeism. Objective: Conduct a systematic review evaluating impact of school-based telemedicine programs on improving asthma-related outcomes. Data Sources: PubMed, Cochrane CENTRAL, CINAHL, ERIC, PsycINFO, Embase, and Google Scholar. Study Eligibility Criteria: Original research, including quasi-experimental studies, without restriction on the type of telemedicine. Participants: School-aged pediatric patients with asthma and their families. Interventions: School-based telemedicine. Study Appraisal and Synthesis Methods: Two authors independently screened each abstract, conducted full-text review, assessed study quality, and extracted information. A third author resolved disagreements. Results: Of 371 articles identified, 7 were included for the review. Outcomes of interest were asthma symptom-free days, asthma symptom frequency, quality of life, health care utilization, school absences, and spirometry. Four of 7 studies reported significant increases in symptom-free days and/or decrease in symptom frequency. Five of 6 reported increases in at least one quality-of-life metric, 2 of 7 reported a decrease in at least 1 health care utilization metric, 1 of 3 showed reductions in school absences, and 1 of 2 reported improvements in spirometry measures. Limitations: Variability in intervention designs and outcome measures make comparisons and quantitative analyses across studies difficult. Only 2 of 7 studies were randomized controlled trials. Conclusions and Implications of Key Findings: High-quality evidence supporting the use of school-based telemedicine programs to improve patient outcomes is limited. While available evidence suggests benefit, only 2 comparative trials were identified, and the contribution of telemedicine to these studies’ results is unclear.
AB - Background: School health systems are increasingly investing in telemedicine platforms to address acute and chronic illnesses. Asthma, the most common chronic illness in childhood, is of particular interest given its high burden on school absenteeism. Objective: Conduct a systematic review evaluating impact of school-based telemedicine programs on improving asthma-related outcomes. Data Sources: PubMed, Cochrane CENTRAL, CINAHL, ERIC, PsycINFO, Embase, and Google Scholar. Study Eligibility Criteria: Original research, including quasi-experimental studies, without restriction on the type of telemedicine. Participants: School-aged pediatric patients with asthma and their families. Interventions: School-based telemedicine. Study Appraisal and Synthesis Methods: Two authors independently screened each abstract, conducted full-text review, assessed study quality, and extracted information. A third author resolved disagreements. Results: Of 371 articles identified, 7 were included for the review. Outcomes of interest were asthma symptom-free days, asthma symptom frequency, quality of life, health care utilization, school absences, and spirometry. Four of 7 studies reported significant increases in symptom-free days and/or decrease in symptom frequency. Five of 6 reported increases in at least one quality-of-life metric, 2 of 7 reported a decrease in at least 1 health care utilization metric, 1 of 3 showed reductions in school absences, and 1 of 2 reported improvements in spirometry measures. Limitations: Variability in intervention designs and outcome measures make comparisons and quantitative analyses across studies difficult. Only 2 of 7 studies were randomized controlled trials. Conclusions and Implications of Key Findings: High-quality evidence supporting the use of school-based telemedicine programs to improve patient outcomes is limited. While available evidence suggests benefit, only 2 comparative trials were identified, and the contribution of telemedicine to these studies’ results is unclear.
KW - adolescent
KW - asthma
KW - child
KW - humans
KW - school health services
KW - telemedicine
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U2 - 10.1016/j.acap.2020.05.008
DO - 10.1016/j.acap.2020.05.008
M3 - Review article
C2 - 32446856
AN - SCOPUS:85087816136
VL - 20
SP - 893
EP - 901
JO - Academic Pediatrics
JF - Academic Pediatrics
SN - 1876-2859
IS - 7
ER -