Effects of educational technologies on the prevention and treatment of diabetic ulcers: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Jefferson Abraão Caetano Lira, Álvaro Sepúlveda Carvalho Rocha, Sandra Marina Gonçalves Bezerra and 3 others
PMID 37341258WHAT IT FOUND
Educational technologies reduced the risk of diabetic ulcers and amputations compared to usual care.
However, the evidence is very weak due to study flaws and inconsistent results, so these interventions should not be assumed to work reliably without further high-quality research.
Key findings
01Educational technologies showed a protective effect against the incidence of diabetic ulcers compared to usual care.
02Educational technologies showed a protective effect against lower limb amputations compared to usual care.
03The certainty of the evidence for both ulcer prevention and amputation reduction was rated as low or very low.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Seven of the eleven included trials were rated as having a high risk of bias, particularly due to lack of blinding in outcome assessment. The results for diabetic ulcer prevention were inconsistent across the different studies. The certainty of evidence for preventing amputations was rated as very low. The trials did not measure the costs of the educational technologies.
Declared interests
The review was conducted in Brazil. No specific funding sources or conflicts of interest were declared in the provided text beyond the institutional affiliation.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the positive statistical findings as proof that educational technologies reliably prevent ulcers or amputations. The evidence quality is very low due to biased studies and inconsistent results, meaning the true effect could be much smaller or non-existent.