Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Research Protocols
Date Submitted: Jun 25, 2022
Date Accepted: Sep 21, 2022
Influence of Sex, Gender or Age on Outcomes of Digital Technologies for Treatment and Monitoring of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Protocol for an Overview of Systematic Reviews
ABSTRACT
Background:
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common chronic disease that can be treated and monitored with various digital technologies. Digital technologies offer unique opportunities for treating and monitoring people with chronic diseases, but little is known about whether the outcomes of such technologies depend on sex, gender and age in people with COPD.
Objective:
The general objective of this study is to assess the possible influence of sex, gender or age on outcomes of digital technologies for treatment and monitoring of COPD using an overview of systematic reviews.
Methods:
The study is planned as an overview of systematic reviews. Study reporting is based on the PRISMA 2020 (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-analyses) statement, because no reporting guideline for overviews is available at the time of writing the protocol. The information sources for the overview will include four bibliographic databases (MEDLINE, Cochrane library, Epistemonikos and Web of Science) as well as the bibliographies of the included systematic reviews. The electronic search strategy will be developed and conducted in collaboration with an experienced database specialist. The search results will be presented according to PRISMA 2020. The eligibility is based on the Population, Intervention, Control, Outcome, Study design (PICOS) criteria: (1) people with COPD (population), (2) digital technology intervention for treatment or monitoring (intervention), (3) comparison: any control group or no control group, (4) outcomes (any), (5) systematic review of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) or non-RCTs with or without meta-analysis (study design). Critical appraisal of the included systematic reviews will be performed using AMSTAR 2 (A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews, version 2). Data will be extracted using a standardized data extraction sheet.
Results:
Ethics approval is not required for this overview of systematic reviews, as there will be no patient involvement. The systematic search is scheduled for June 2022, and we expect to select studies and code the data in late 2022. The plan for dissemination is to publish the findings in a peer-reviewed journal and present our results at conferences that engage the most pertinent stakeholders.
Conclusions:
There is a growing recognition that the influence of sex, gender and age should be considered in research design and outcome reporting. This overview will summarize the evidence required for more individualized recommendations for use of digital technologies by people with COPD that take into account sex, gender or age. Clinical Trial: PROSPERO International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews CRD42022322924; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42022322924
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