SynthesisJournal of medical Internet research2019
An Evaluation of the Effectiveness of the Modalities Used to Deliver Electronic Health Interventions for Chronic Pain: Systematic Review With Network Meta-Analysis.
Synthesis in Journal of medical Internet research, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05058547 (An Evidence-based Digital Support for One Year to Facilitate a Sustainable Return to Work for Persons With Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain and Their Employers), which is not on this map. Cited by 76 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
An Evidence-based Digital Support for One Year to Facilitate a Sustainable Return to Work for Persons With Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain and Their Employers: Study Protocol for a Registry-based Multicentre Randomized Controlled Trial.
Who cites it
76 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effects of Digital Health Interventions in Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain: Systematic Review and Bayesian Network Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Pooled it
- Engagement in Digital Self-management Interventions for Chronic Pain: A Systematic Review.The Clinical journal of pain · 2025Pooled it
- Psychological therapies delivered remotely for the management of chronic pain (excluding headache) in adults.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2023Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of the Adherence to Home-Practice Meditation Exercises in Patients with Chronic Pain.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Pooled it
- The effectiveness of eHealth interventions on female pelvic floor dysfunction: a systematic review and meta-analysis.International urogynecology journal · 2022Pooled it
- Consumers' Willingness to Pay for eHealth and Its Influencing Factors: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2022Pooled it
- Digital Health Interventions for Musculoskeletal Pain Conditions: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Journal of medical Internet research · 2022Pooled it
- Trial
- The effects of a mobile app-delivered intervention in people with symptomatic hand osteoarthritis: a pragmatic randomized controlled trial.European journal of physical and rehabilitation medicine · 2023Trial
- "Back Rx, a personalized mobile phone application for discogenic chronic low back pain: a prospective pilot study".BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2022Trial
- Multimodal Chronic Pain Therapy for Adults via Smartphone: Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2022Trial
- An Exercise and Educational and Self-management Program Delivered With a Smartphone App (CareHand) in Adults With Rheumatoid Arthritis of the Hands: Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2022Trial
- Internet-Based Multimodal Pain Program With Telephone Support for Adults With Chronic Temporomandibular Disorder Pain: Randomized Controlled Pilot Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2020Trial
- Effectiveness of Conversational Agents on Patient-Reported Outcomes in Chronic Pain Management: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Development of iGET Living, a Digital Graded Exposure Intervention for Youth With Chronic Pain: Multiphase User-Centered Design and Pilot Study.JMIR formative research · 2026Article
- Article
- Digital health interventions for perioperative patient-reported outcomes: a network meta-analysis.NPJ digital medicine · 2026Article
- Pain Retrained: Participant Perspectives of an Online, Interdisciplinary Chronic Pain Education Programme.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2026Article
- Impact of coping profiles on social identity in a youth chronic pain recommender system: qualitative descriptive study.Frontiers in digital health · 2026Article
- Innovative mHealth for addressing low back pain-related factors amongst lower-limb amputees: A quasi-experimental.African journal of disability · 2026Article
16 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundElectronic health (eHealth) is the use of information and communication technology in the context of health care and health research. Recently, there has been a rise in the number of eHealth modalities and the frequency with which they are used to deliver technology-assisted self-management interventions for people living with chronic pain. However, there has been little or no research directly comparing these eHealth modalities.
objectiveThe aim of this systematic review with a network meta-analysis (NMA) is to compare the effectiveness of eHealth modalities in the context of chronic pain.
methodsRandomized controlled trials (N>20 per arm) that investigated interventions for adults with chronic pain, delivered via an eHealth modality, were included. Included studies were categorized into their primary node of delivery. Data were extracted on the primary outcome, pain interference, and secondary outcomes, pain severity, psychological distress, and health-related quality of life. Pairwise meta-analyses were undertaken where possible, and an NMA was conducted to generate indirect comparisons and rankings of modalities for reducing pain interference.
resultsThe search returned 18,470 studies with 18,349 being excluded (duplicates=2310; title and abstract=16,039). Of the remaining papers, 30 studies with 5394 randomized participants were included in the review. Rankings tentatively indicated that modern eHealth modalities are the most effective, with a 43% chance that mobile apps delivered the most effective interventions, followed by a 34% chance that interventions delivered via virtual reality were the most effective.
conclusionsThis systematic review with an NMA generated comparisons between eHealth modalities previously not compared to determine which delivered the most effective interventions for the reduction of pain interference in chronic pain patients. There are limitations with this review, in particular, the underrepresented nature of some eHealth modalities included in the analysis. However, in the event that the review is regularly updated, a clear ranking of eHealth modalities for the reduction of pain interference will emerge.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.