Telemedicine and telecare for older patients—A systematic review
Abstract
Telemedicine is increasingly becoming a reality in medical care for the elderly. We performed a systematic literature review on telemedicine healthcare concepts for older patients. We included controlled studies in an ambulant setting that analyzed telemedicine interventions involving patients aged ≥60 years. 1585 articles matched the specified search criteria, thereof, 68 could be included in the review. Applications address an array of mostly frequent diseases, e.g. cardiovascular disease (N=37) or diabetes (N=18). The majority of patients is still living at home and is able to handle the telemedicine devices by themselves. In 59 of 68 articles (87%), the intervention can be categorized as monitoring. The largest proportion of telemedicine interventions consisted of measurements of vital signs combined with personal interaction between healthcare provider and patient (N=24), and concepts with only personal interaction (telephone or videoconferencing, N=14). The studies show predominantly positive results with a clear trend towards better results for "behavioral" endpoints, e.g. adherence to medication or diet, and self-efficacy compared to results for medical outcomes (e.g. blood pressure, or mortality), quality of life, and economic outcomes (e.g. costs or hospitalization). However, in 26 of 68 included studies, patients with characteristic limitations for older patients (e.g. cognitive and visual impairment, communication barriers, hearing problems) were excluded. A consi…
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All reviews examining diet and physical activity reported that virtual care had a tendency to improve these and other behavioural outcomes.
“all reviews reported that virtual care had a tendency to improve these and other behavioural outcomes.”
From Effect of virtual care in type 2 diabetes management – a systematic umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analysis (2025) · cites this paper as [36]
Two reviews reported that virtual care improved medication adherence.
“2 reviews reported that virtual care improved medication adherence [27, 36].”
From Effect of virtual care in type 2 diabetes management – a systematic umbrella review of systematic reviews and meta-analysis (2025) · cites this paper as [36]
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- Authors
- van den Berg, N., Schumann, M., Kraft, K., & Hoffmann, W.
- Affiliations
- Universitätsmedizin Greifswald (DE)
- ORCID
- Hoffmann, Wolfgang
- Venue
- Maturitas
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2012-10
- Volume
- 73
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 94-114
- ISSN
- 0378-5122 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1979873941
- Cited by
- 251
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 21 · 2021: 25 · 2020: 33 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 16 · 2016: 16 · 2015: 22 · 2014: 19 · 2013: 15
- FWCI
- 2.79
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Maturitas (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Telemedicine and Telehealth Implementation
- Social Sciences › Demography › Technology Use by Older Adults
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Geriatrics and Gerontology › Frailty in Older Adults
- Keywords
- telemedicine, telecare, elderly patients, remote patient monitoring, vital signs monitoring, cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, medication adherence, self-efficacy, videoconferencing, telephone follow-up, home care, outpatient care
- MeSH terms
- Aged, Delivery of Health Care, Health Services for the Aged, Humans, Monitoring, Physiologic, Health Behavior, Telemedicine, Videoconferencing
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