Studies on the value of remote care in non-inflammatory RMDs (PICO 1)
| Study | Study design | Disease | N° | Demographics* | Intervention | Control | Outcomes | Results† | RoB‡ |
| Amorim et al27 | RCT | Chronic back pain | 68 | Age: 58 y Female: 50% FU duration: 6 mo | Physical activity plan, phone calls, activity Tracker, web application, additionally to information booklet | Information booklet | Efficacy (pain, physical activity) | No differences | RoB 2: some concern |
| Azma et al28 | RCT | Knee OA | 54 | Age: 56 y Female: 60% FU duration: 6 mo | Pamphlet with physical exercises, logbook for physical activity, monitoring phone calls | Office-based physical therapy for 6 weeks | Efficacy (pain; WOMAC) | No differences | RoB 2: high |
| Bennell et al29 | RCT | Knee OA | 168 | Age: 62 y Female: 16% FU duration: 12 mo | Six telephone coaching sessions (education, physical activity, exercises and adherence strategies) | Physiotherapy | Efficacy (pain; WOMAC; PASE) Adherence | Better adherence, function, pain and/or physical activity | RoB 2: some concern |
| Cuperus et al30 | RCT | OA | 147 | Age: 60 y Female: 85% FU duration: 52 w | Two F2F meetings (patient education, pain management, physical activity), four telephone calls (goal setting, progress reporting) | Six F2F meetings | Efficacy (SF-36 pain; physical activity, GSES) | Worse pain, better physical activity. No difference in QoL and self-efficacy | RoB 2: low |
| Cuperus et al41 | RCT | OA | 147 | Age: 60 y Female: 85% FU duration: 52 w | Two F2F meetings (patient education, pain management, physical activity), four telephone calls (goal setting, progress) | Six F2F meetings | Cost-effectiveness | Worse for quality-adjusted life years, lower total programme costs | RoB 2: high |
| Friesen et al31 | RCT | FM | 60 | Age: 48 y Female: 95% FU duration: 8 w | Eight-week long online programme on pain management | Waiting list | Efficacy (FIQR; BPI; HADS) User perception | Better for symptoms, depression, pain, fear of pain, generalised anxiety and physical health outcomes. No difference in patient satisfaction | RoB 2: low |
| Geragthy el al32 | RCT | Low back pain | 87 | Age: 58 y Female: 61% FU duration: 3 mo | Six-week web application use for self-management, phone calls for support and encouragement, additionally to usual care | Usual care (consultations and/or physiotherapy and/or pain clinics) | Efficacy (RMDQ; pain) Adherence | Only descriptive analysis, no comparisons performed | RoB 2: some concern |
| Hinman et al33 | RCT | Knee OA | 175 | Age: 63 y Female: 55% FU duration: 12 mo | Telephone calls (physical activity), additionally to help line (OA education) | Help line (OA education: self-management, community resources, emotional support and treatment escalations) | Efficacy (pain; WOMAC) User perception | Better physical function, pain, physical activity and satisfaction outcomes | RoB 2: low |
| Kloek et al40 | RCT | Knee and/or hip OA | 208 | Age: 63 y Female: 68% FU duration: 12 mo | Five F2F physical therapy sessions, web application (behavioural graded activities, exercises, disease education, progress reports) | Physical therapy | Efficacy (TUG; accelerometer) User perception | No difference in physical function. Slightly less sedentary behaviour. No difference in user perception | RoB 2: high |
| Kloek et al42 | RCT | Knee and/or hip OA | 208 | Age: 63 y Female: 68% FU duration: 12 mo | Five F2F physical therapy sessions, web application (behavioural graded activities, exercises, disease education, progress reports) | Physical therapy | Cost-effectiveness | No differences | RoB 2: high |
| O’Brien et al34 | RCT | Overweight patients with knee OA | 120 | Age: 62 y Female: 62% FU duration: 26 w | Telephone-based weight management and healthy lifestyle service | Waiting list for orthopaedic consultation | Efficay (pain; WOMAC, FABQ, SF-12) Safety (adverse events) | No difference in pain or physical function. Better fear avoidance and QoL. No difference in adverse events | RoB 2: low |
| Odole and Ojo39 | RCT | Knee OA | 50 | Age: 56 y Female: 49% FU duration: 6 w | Home exercises, telephone monitoring and coaching | Clinical-based therapy | Efficacy (WHOQo- Bref) | Better results on physical and psychological health according to WHO QoL | RoB 2: high |
| Rutledge et al35 | RCT | Low back pain | 62 | Age: 63 y Female: 9% FU duration: 8 w | Cognitive behavioural therapy via 1 F2F and 11 phone calls | Nurse delivered, telehealth supportive psychotherapy | Efficacy (pain, BDI-2) User perception | No differences in pain, depression or patient satisfaction outcomes | RoB 2: high |
| Shebib et al36 | RCT | Low back pain | 177 | Age: 43 y Female: 41% FU duration: 12 w | Web application (education articles, cognitive behavioural therapy, team discussions, activity/symptom tracking, coaching, exercises) | Receiving three digital education articles | Efficacy (pain) | Better pain, impact on daily life and disability outcomes | RoB 2: high |
| Skrepnik et al37 | RCT | Knee OA | 211 | Age: 63 y Female: 50% FU duration: 3 mo | Mobile application (motivational messages, goal setting) Additionally to F2F FU, wearable activity monitor and brochures on the benefit of walking | F2F FU, wearable activity tracker and brochures on the benefit of walking | Efficacy (pain; N° of steps) Safety (adverse events) User perception | More steps per day and less pain. No difference in adverse events. No difference between physician/patient satisfaction reported | RoB 2: high |
| Solomon et al44 | RCT | Osteoporosis | 879 | Age: 80 y Female: 93% FU duration: 12 mo | Telephone calls to improve medication adherence Additionally to mailed educational materials | Mailed educational materials | Adherence | No differences | RoB 2: high |
| Tso et al 43 | RCT | Osteoporosis with fracture | 6591 | Age: 80 y Female: 100% FU duration: 4–5 mo | Telephone call (education on osteoporosis treatment) Additionally to at baseline educational material sent via mail/fax | At baseline educational material sent via mail/fax | Adherence | Better for receiving appropriate osteoporosis treatment | RoB2: high |
| Vallejo et al38 | RCT | FM | 60 | Age: 56 y Female: 100% FU duration: 12 mo | Web application (cognitive behavioural therapy, exercises), possibility to send questions to a therapist | Waiting list or cognitive behavioural therapy | Efficacy (FIQR, CPSS) | Worse impact on daily functioning and better self-efficacy compared with the normal cognitive behavioural group | RoB2: high |
| Nero et al25 | Cohort study | OA | 25 | Age: 62 y Female: 68% FU duration: 3 mo | Six-week long web programme (education, exercises, physiotherapy) | Twelve-week F2F programme (exercises, self-management techniques) | Efficacy (pain) | Numerically higher pain reduction, (higher baseline pain in intervention group) | ROBINS-I: low |
| Peterson et al26 | Cohort study | Low back pain | 47 | Age: 49 y Female: 70% FU duration: 1 day | Telerehabilitation assessment and assignment to treatment groups (mobilisation/manipulation, specific exercises, stabilisation) | F2F assignment to the treatment groups by another physical therapist | Efficacy (diagnostic accuracy) | No differences | ROBINS-I: moderate |
*Age/Female ratio was calculated by the sum of age (mean or median) or female ratio (%) of intervention and control groups, respectively and divided by the number of groups, unless reported otherwise.
†Results are reported in respect to the comparison of the intervention with the control.
‡Overall RoB is reported according to the RoB 2 tool (low, some concern, high RoB) and the ROBINS-I tool (low, moderate, serious RoB).
BDI-2, Beck Depression Inventory 2; BPI, Brief Pain Inventory; CPSS, Chronic Pain Self-efficacy Scale; FABQ, fear avoidance beliefs questionnaire; F2F, face-to-face; FIQR, Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire; FM, fibromyalgia; FU, follow-up; GSES, General Self-Efficacy Scale; HADS, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; HAQ-DI, Health Assessment Questionnaire-Disability Index; mo, months; OA, osteoarthritis; PASE, physical activity scale for the elderly; QoL, quality of life; RCT, randomised controlled trial; RMDQ, Roland and Morris Disability Questionnaire; RMDs, rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases; RoB, risk of bias; SF-12, Short Form 12; SF-36, Short Form 36; TUG, Timed Up & Go test; w, weeks; WHOQo-Bref, WHO Quality of life-Bref.