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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Indian J Med Paediatr Oncol 2021; 42(06): 518-527
DOI: 10.1055/s-0041-1740120
Review Article

Efficacy of Mobile Phone Technology for Managing Side Effects Associated with Chemotherapy among Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Praveen Uppu 
1   PhD Scholar, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education & Research, Chennai, India
2   School of Nursing Sciences, Sharda University, Greater Noida, India
,
M. Manickavasagam
3   Department of Medical Oncology, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research (DU), Porur, Chennai, India
,
Nalini Sirala Jagadeesh
4   Faculty of Nursing, Sri Ramachandra Institute of Higher Education and Research (DU), Porur, Chennai, India
,
K. Ramesh Babu
5   School of Computer Science & Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India
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Abstract

Background To establish the evidence related to the efficacy of mobile phone technology for managing side effects of chemotherapy and improved quality of life among patients with cancer.

Methods Articles published in peer-reviewed journals were included in this review. Randomized control trials (RCTs) and non-randomized control trials (non-RCTs) consisting of mobile-based interventions (mobile application, smart phone App-based interventions or guidelines to manage side-effects of chemotherapy or mobile health services), and adult cancer patients (aged 18 or above years) as participants who were undergoing chemotherapy and received mobile phone-based interventions as an interventional group versus control/comparator group who were getting routine or usual care were included in this systematic review. Databases such as Scopus, Science Direct, Cochrane library, PubMed, and Google Scholar were systematically searched between 2007 and 2020. Using the Cochrane risk of bias tool, the methodological quality of the included studies was evaluated by two independent authors.

Results We included 10 trials, involving 1467 cancer patients and the number of participants ranged from 50 to 457. All trials measured the side effects of chemotherapy as the main outcome and three trials measured the quality of life as the main outcome.

Ten trials included for narrative synthesis showed a significant decrease in chemotherapy side effects and considerable improvement in the quality of life in the interventional group than in the comparison group. Meta-analysis of four RCTs containing 803 subjects concluded a significant improvement (p < 0.0001) in the quality of life.

A significant improvement in the quality of life was revealed by random effects model (SMD = 0.31, 95% CI: 0.17, −0.46) and a significant difference (Z = 4.37, p < 0.001) was identified between experimental and control groups.

Conclusion Current review strengthens the evidence that utilizing mobile-phone based technology has favorable effects on improving the quality of life by minimizing side-effects associated with chemotherapy among cancer patients.

Keywords

chemotherapy - side-effects - mobile apps/smartphone applications - cancer patient

Systematic Review Registration No

International Prospective Register for Systematic Reviews (Prospero Registration No-CRD42020152520).




Publication History

Article published online:
11 December 2021

© 2021. Indian Society of Medical and Paediatric Oncology. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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