Effectiveness Of Digital Therapeutics On Chronic Pain In Older People: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis

TL;DR

Digital therapeutics can slightly reduce chronic pain in older people, but more research is needed to confirm long-term benefits.

Contribution

This study provides the first meta-analysis on digital therapeutics for chronic pain in older adults.

Findings

Digital therapeutics showed a small but significant reduction in chronic pain (SMD of -0.31).

All included studies were recent and had low risk of bias.

Further large-scale and long-term studies are needed to confirm effectiveness.

Abstract

Chronic pain in older people is a global health issue, reducing quality of life and increasing healthcare costs. Traditional treatments have limited long-term effectiveness due to side effects and dependency risks, driving interest in non-pharmacological approaches like digital therapeutics (DTx), which use technologies such as mobile apps, VR, AI, and digital CBT to modulate pain and promote neuroplasticity.

This objective of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of DTx in reducing chronic pain in older people through a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the effect size.

A systematic review and meta-analysis following PRISMA 2020 guidelines. A comprehensive search of major E-databases was conducted to identify studies examining the effects of digital therapeutics on chronic pain management. A total of 106 studies were initially retrieved, and 6 studies that met the inclusion criteria were selected for analysis. The effect size of Pain reduction was analyzed using Standardized Mean Difference (SMD) and a random-effects model to address heterogeneity.

The meta-analysis revealed that digital therapeutics had a statistically significant small effect on reducing chronic pain in older people, with an SMD of -0.31 (95% CI: -0.57, -0.05, p < 0.05). Additionally, all 6 included studies were recent (published between 2000-2004), and no studies had a high risk of bias.

The findings suggest that DTx can be an effective non-pharmacological strategy for pain management in older adults, but further large-scale and long-term studies are needed to confirm their sustained effectiveness and broader applicability.