Summary of findings for the main comparison. Interventions designed to improve any type of continuity compared to usual care.
| Interventions designed to improve any type of continuity compared to usual care | |||
| Patient or population: cancer patients Settings: multiple settings Intervention: any type of continuity Comparison: usual care | |||
| Outcomes | Median effect size* (95% CI) | No of Participants (studies) | Quality of the evidence (GRADE) |
| Functional status Multiple scales. Scale from: 0 to 100. | The median Functional status in the intervention groups was 0 higher (1.69 lower to 2.65 higher) | 3966 (16 studies) | ⊕⊝⊝⊝ very low1,2 |
| Physical status Multiple scales. Scale from: 0 to 100. | The median Physical status in the intervention groups was 0 higher (0.5 lower to 0.45 higher) | 5070 (25 studies) | ⊕⊝⊝⊝ very low1,2 |
| Psychological status Multiple scales. Scale from: 0 to 100. | The median Psychological status in the intervention groups was 0.24 lower (3.04 lower to 0.44 higher) | 4634 (20 studies) | ⊕⊝⊝⊝ very low1,2 |
| Social needs Multiple scales. Scale from: 0 to 100. | The median Social needs in the intervention groups was 0.71 lower (6.96 to 0.01 lower) | 1278 (8 studies) | ⊕⊝⊝⊝ very low1,2 |
| Satisfaction Multiple scales. Scale from: 0 to 100. | The median Satisfaction in the intervention groups was 6.7 higher (6.7 to 11.5 higher) | 378 (2 studies) | ⊕⊝⊝⊝ very low1,2,3 |
| Global quality of life Multiple scales. Scale from: 0 to 100. | The median Global quality of life in the intervention groups was 2.05 higher (0.06 lower to 2.14 higher) | 2622 (10 studies) | ⊕⊝⊝⊝ very low2,4 |
| *The basis for the median effect size (e.g. the median control group risk across studies) is provided in footnotes. Differences between the value of each outcome before and after the intervention in each experimental group were calculated for each study. Then, the difference between the effects measured in the experimental and control group served to measure the overall effect of the intervention for each outcome. We then calculated the median value of all the measured effects across all the outcomes of the same type. Lastly, to pool the results from multiple studies, the median effect size (and its 95% confidence interval) was computed for each type of outcome, by calculating the median from all the median effects in outcomes obtained from individual studies. CI: Bootstrap confidence interval; | |||
| GRADE Working Group grades of evidence High quality: Further research is very unlikely to change our confidence in the estimate of effect. Moderate quality: Further research is likely to have an important impact on our confidence in the estimate of effect and may change the estimate. Low quality: Further research is very likely to have an important impact on our confidence in the estimate of effect and is likely to change the estimate. Very low quality: We are very uncertain about the estimate. | |||
1 Lack of blinding or unclear blinding 2 Heterogeneity of population, interventions and outcomes 3 Unclear sequence generation 4 Lack of blinding