Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare > Volume 14, Number 2 > Pp. 62-66

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RESEARCH Systematic review

Home-based telehealth: a review and meta-analysis

Jami L DelliFraine  and Kathryn H Dansky

Department of Health Policy and Administration, The Pennsylvania State University, Pennsylvania, USA

Correspondence: Dr Jami L DelliFraine, Department of Health Policy and Administration, Penn State University, 604 Ford Bldg., University Park, PA 16802, USA (Fax: +1 814 863 2905; Email: jld40{at}psu.edu)

We conducted a systematic review to identify studies on the effect of home telehealth on clinical care outcomes. The search was restricted to peer-reviewed publications (published between 2001 and 2007) about studies conducted in home or residential settings. The search yielded 154 potential articles and dissertations. A total of 29 articles met the inclusion criteria and were included in a meta-analysis. The weighted mean effect size for the overall meta-analysis was 0.50, and the z-statistic was 3.0, indicating that telehealth had a moderate, positive and significant effect (P 0.01) on clinical outcomes. Subanalyses also indicated positive significant effects of telehealth for some disease categories (heart disease and psychiatric conditions), but not others (diabetes), patient populations and telehealth interventions. Overall, the meta-analysis indicated that telehealth positively affects clinical outcomes of care, even in different patient populations.

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