Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40866805›Full record

ReviewInternational journal of emergency medicine2025

Impact of telemedicine on mortality, hospital admissions, and length of stay in pediatric emergencies: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Amani N Alansari, Mohamed Sayed Zaazouee, Marwa Messaoud, Salma Mani, Alaa Ahmed Elshanbary, Hanan Youssif Mohamed

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In one paragraph

Review in International journal of emergency medicine, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Review
  3. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Amani N AlansariDepartment of Pediatric Surgery, Hamad Medical Corporation, P.O Box: 3050, Doha, Qatar. aalansari9@hamad.qa.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9369-1933
Mohamed Sayed ZaazoueeFaculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Assiut, Egypt.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0904-9153
Marwa MessaoudPediatric Surgery Department, Fattouma Bourguiba University Hospital, Monastir, Tunisia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0009-0006-1314-6713
Salma ManiPediatric Surgery Department, Fattouma Bourguiba University Hospital, Monastir, Tunisia.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3258-6873
Alaa Ahmed ElshanbaryFaculty of Medicine, Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7981-9283
Hanan Youssif MohamedPediatric Surgery Department, Benghazi Medical Center, Benghazi, Libya.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundPediatric emergencies pose significant challenges in healthcare. Telemedicine offers a promising solution by enabling remote assessments, improving specialist access, reducing unnecessary ER visits and admissions, optimizing resources, and enhancing patient satisfaction. This systematic review and meta-analysis uniquely aimed to quantify the effect of telemedicine on key outcomes in pediatric emergency and post-emergency care.

methodsWe searched PubMed, Scopus, the Cochrane Library, and Web of Science to identify studies focusing on the impact of telemedicine in pediatric emergency settings. Both single- and double-arm studies were included. Statistical analysis was performed using RevMan and CMA software, with a random-effects model applied to all analyses. We assessed differences in admissions, hospital length of stay (LOS), and mortality. Event rates were calculated for single-arm analyses, and risk ratios and mean differences were used for dichotomous and continuous outcomes in double-arm analyses.

resultsA total of 23 studies were included. Telemedicine significantly reduced hospital LOS (MD = -1.01, 95% CI: -1.3 to -0.71) and overall mortality (RR = 0.17, 95% CI: 0.13 to 0.24). The admission rates to the emergency department, hospital ward, and pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) were comparable between both groups. Single-arm analysis revealed that telemedicine was associated with an ED admission rate of 18% (95% CI: 5.2-47%), a hospital ward admission rate of 16.7% (95% CI: 4.6-45.7%), and a pooled mortality rate of 1.8% (95% CI: 1-3.3%).

conclusionsTelemedicine appears to be an effective tool in pediatric emergency care. While our analysis suggests reductions in hospital length of stay and mortality, these findings should be interpreted with caution due to variability and potential confounding across studies. The impact on admission rates remains inconclusive. Nonetheless, telemedicine offers a promising approach to enhancing healthcare delivery and optimizing resource use in pediatric emergency and early post-emergency settings.

Indexed as

AdmissionEmergencyMeta-analysisMortalityPediatricTelemedicine

Identifiers

PMID40866805
PMCPMC12392495

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Registered trials

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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.