Abstract

Background Many elderly people suffer from chronic health conditions and mobility limitations. Therefore, they may benefit from traditional rehabilitation or telerehabilitation interventions as an alternative for this type of services.

Objective The purpose of this study was to compare the effectiveness of telerehabilitation interventions with traditional rehabilitation services for therapeutic purposes in the elderly.

Methods This systematic review was conducted in 2018. The searched databases were Cochrane Library, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Embase, and ProQuest. The search was conducted with no time or language limitation. The selected papers included the randomized clinical trial studies in which elderly people aged 60 and over used telerehabilitation services for treatment purposes. The quality of the studies was evaluated by using the physiotherapy evidence database (PEDro) scale. Data were extracted by using a data extraction form and findings were narratively synthesized.

Results After screening the retrieved papers, eight articles were selected to be included in the study. According to the findings, telerehabilitation was used for the elderly after stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), total knee replacement, and in patients with the comorbidity of COPD and chronic heart failure. Overall, in most studies, there was no significant difference between the intervention and control groups and the level of improvements was similar for most outcomes.

Conclusion Telerehabilitation services can be regarded as an alternative to traditional rehabilitation approaches to reduce outpatient resource utilization and improve quality of life. However, more rigorous studies are suggested to investigate the effectiveness of telerehabilitation services for specific diseases or health conditions.

Authors' Contributions

F. V. conducted the research and drafted the manuscript. H. A. supervised the research and commented on the manuscript. M. H. helped with conducting the research and commented on the manuscript.

中文翻译：

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远程康复干预对老年人治疗目的有效性的系统评价。

摘要

背景 许多老年人患有慢性疾病和行动不便。因此，他们可以从传统康复或远程康复干预中受益，作为此类服务的替代方案。

目的 本研究的目的是比较远程康复干预与传统康复服务对老年人治疗目的的有效性。

方法 本系统评价于 2018 年进行。检索的数据库为 Cochrane Library、PubMed、Scopus、Web of Science、Embase 和 ProQuest。搜索是在没有时间或语言限制的情况下进行的。选定的论文包括随机临床试验研究，其中 60 岁及以上的老年人使用远程康复服务进行治疗。通过使用物理治疗证据数据库（PEDro）量表评估研究的质量。使用数据提取表提取数据，并叙述性地综合调查结果。

结果 对检索到的论文进行筛选后，选出8篇纳入研究。根据研究结果，远程康复用于中风、慢性阻塞性肺病（COPD）、全膝关节置换术后的老年人以及慢性阻塞性肺病和慢性心力衰竭合并症的患者。总体而言，在大多数研究中，干预组和对照组之间没有显着差异，大多数结果的改善水平相似。

结论 远程康复服务可以作为传统康复方法的替代方案，以减少门诊资源的使用，提高生活质量。但是，建议进行更严格的研究，以调查远程康复服务对特定疾病或健康状况的有效性。

作者的贡献

FV 进行了研究并起草了手稿。HA 监督了研究并评论了手稿。MH 帮助进行了研究并评论了手稿。