The impact of self-monitoring in chronic illness on healthcare utilisation: a systematic review of reviews

• Published in: BMC health services research Vol. 15; no. 1; p. 565
• Main Authors: McBain, Hayley, Shipley, Michael, Newman, Stanton
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London BioMed Central 18.12.2015; BioMed Central Ltd
• Subjects: Blood pressure; Care and treatment; Chronic Disease - mortality; Chronic Disease - therapy; Chronic diseases; Chronic illnesses; Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; Full text; Health Administration; Health Informatics; Health services utilization; Heart failure; Hospitalization - statistics & numerical data; Humans; Hypertension; Intervention; Lifestyles; Medical care; Medical Subject Headings-MeSH; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Meta-analysis; Meta-Analysis as Topic; Monitoring, Physiologic - methods; Monitoring, Physiologic - mortality; Nursing Research; Patient Acceptance of Health Care - statistics & numerical data; Public Health; Quality; Research Article; Review Literature as Topic; Self awareness; Self Care - statistics & numerical data; Self-care, Health; Systematic review; Utilization; Vital signs; United Kingdom; Chronic illness; Self-monitoring; Complex interventions; Systematic review; Hospitalization; Healthcare utilization; Meta-analysis
• ISSN: 1472-6963; 1472-6963
• DOI: 10.1186/s12913-015-1221-5

Background Self-management interventions have been found to reduce healthcare utilisation in people with long-term conditions, but further work is needed to identify which components of these interventions are most effective. Self-monitoring is one such component and is associated with significant clinical benefits. The aim of this systematic review of reviews is to assess the impact of self-monitoring interventions on healthcare utilisation across a range of chronic illnesses. Methods An overview of published systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Multiple databases were searched (MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, EMBASE, AMED, EBM and HMIC) along with the reference lists of included reviews. A narrative synthesis was performed, accompanied by calculation of the Corrected Cover Area to understand the impact of overlapping primary research papers. Results A total of 17 systematic reviews and meta-analyses across three chronic conditions, heart failure, hypertension and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, were included. Self-monitoring was associated with significant reductions in hospitalisation and re-admissions to hospital. Conclusions Self-monitoring has the potential to reduce the pressure placed on secondary care services, but this may lead to increase in services elsewhere in the system. Further work is needed to determine how these findings affect healthcare costs.