Table 4

Characteristics of studies

PICO 1 (value of remote care)PIO 3 (drivers and barriers)
N° of studies34 (100)13 (100)
 RCTs26 (77)0 (0)
 Cohort studies7 (21)1 (8)
 Cross-sectional studies1 (3)7 (54)
 Qualitative studies0 (0)5 (39)
Inflammatory RMDs and mixed diagnoses*14 (41)10 (77)
 RA7 (21)6 (46)
 SpA3 (9)
 Inflammatory arthritis3 (9)
 SLE3 (9)
 RMD not further specified3 (9)4 (31)
Non-inflammatory RMDs20 (59)3 (23)
 OA11 (32)3 (23)
 FM2 (6)0 (0)
 Back pain5 (15)0 (0)
 Osteoporosis2 (6)0 (0)
Remote care intervention†
 Remote monitoring32 (94)3 (23)
 Remote diagnostics2 (6)0 (0)
Mode of delivering remote care†
 E-device for monitoring10 (29)0 (0)
 Video/Telephone calls27 (79)3 (23)
  • Values are depicted as total number and percentage in parenthesis.

  • *In some studies, multiple RMDs were investigated.

  • †Some studies assessed multiple types of remote care intervention/mode of delivery.

  • FM, fibromyalgia; OA, osteoarthritis; PICO, Patients, Intervention, Comparator or Control, Outcome; PIO, Patients, Intervention, Outcome; RA, rheumatoid arthritis; RCT, randomised controlled trial; RMD, rheumatic and musculoskeletal disease; SLE, systematic lupus erythematosus; SpA, spondyloarthritis.