Previously submitted to: Journal of Medical Internet Research (no longer under consideration since Oct 27, 2023)
Date Submitted: Jul 25, 2023
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
A Meta-analysis of Studies on the Therapeutic Effects of Digital Therapies
ABSTRACT
Background:
Digital therapies are being studied as a new treatment method that can have higher efficacy than traditional treatments such as pills or biological agents.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to meta-analyze the results of digital therapy studies conducted from January 2017 to October 2022 to understand the overall treatment outcomes.
Methods:
Seven studies and eight control groups were analyzed using Hedges’ g to calculate effect sizes.
Results:
The weighted average effect size for the eight control groups was 0.91 (Hedges’ g = 0.91, 95% CI: 0.62 to 1.20), indicating a moderate to large effect size. Furthermore, excluding one study, the weighted average effect size was 1.13 (Hedges’ g = 1.13, 95% CI: 0.91 to 1.36), indicating an even larger effect size. The quality of the studies was assessed using the Bias Risk Assessment Tool developed by the Cochrane Group, and the risk of bias was found to be low.
Conclusions:
This study confirmed that digital therapies can have important treatment effects. Digital therapies offer advantages such as easy management of patients’ treatment processes and personalized treatment. However, digital therapy may have limited efficacy for patients who lack the ability to use digital devices or software. Therefore, it is necessary to clearly understand the relevant advantages and disadvantages and search for more effective treatment methods in conjunction with the active use of digital therapies.
Citation
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Copyright
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