Table 4.
Characteristics of studies
| PICO 1 (value of remote care) | PIO 3 (drivers and barriers) | |
| N° of studies | 34 (100) | 13 (100) |
| RCTs | 26 (77) | 0 (0) |
| Cohort studies | 7 (21) | 1 (8) |
| Cross-sectional studies | 1 (3) | 7 (54) |
| Qualitative studies | 0 (0) | 5 (39) |
| Inflammatory RMDs and mixed diagnoses* | 14 (41) | 10 (77) |
| RA | 7 (21) | 6 (46) |
| SpA | 3 (9) | – |
| Inflammatory arthritis | 3 (9) | – |
| SLE | 3 (9) | – |
| RMD not further specified | 3 (9) | 4 (31) |
| Non-inflammatory RMDs | 20 (59) | 3 (23) |
| OA | 11 (32) | 3 (23) |
| FM | 2 (6) | 0 (0) |
| Back pain | 5 (15) | 0 (0) |
| Osteoporosis | 2 (6) | 0 (0) |
| Remote care intervention† | ||
| Remote monitoring | 32 (94) | 3 (23) |
| Remote diagnostics | 2 (6) | 0 (0) |
| Mode of delivering remote care† | ||
| E-device for monitoring | 10 (29) | 0 (0) |
| Video/Telephone calls | 27 (79) | 3 (23) |
Values are depicted as total number and percentage in parenthesis.
*In some studies, multiple RMDs were investigated.
†Some studies assessed multiple types of remote care intervention/mode of delivery.
FM, fibromyalgia; OA, osteoarthritis; PICO, Patients, Intervention, Comparator or Control, Outcome; PIO, Patients, Intervention, Outcome; RA, rheumatoid arthritis; RCT, randomised controlled trial; RMD, rheumatic and musculoskeletal disease; SLE, systematic lupus erythematosus; SpA, spondyloarthritis.