Comparison of the FUR between the telephone and the control groups.

<p>Comparison of the FUR between the telephone and the control groups.</p

Intervention Strategies for Improving Patient Adherence to Follow-Up in the Era of Mobile Information Technology: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

<div><p>Background</p><p>Patient adherence to follow-up plays a key role in the medical surveillance of chronic diseases and affects the implementation of clinical research by influencing cost and validity. We previously reported a randomized controlled trial (RCT) on short message service (SMS) reminders, which significantly improved follow-up adherence in pediatric cataract treatment.</p><p>Methods</p><p>RCTs published in English that reported the impact of SMS or telephone reminders on increasing or decreasing the follow-up rate (FUR) were selected from Medline, EMBASE, PubMed, and the Cochrane Library through February 2014. The impacts of SMS and telephone reminders on the FUR of patients were systematically evaluated by meta-analysis and bias was assessed.</p><p>Results</p><p>We identified 13 RCTs reporting on 3276 patients with and 3402 patients without SMS reminders and 8 RCTs reporting on 2666 patients with and 3439 patients without telephone reminders. For the SMS reminders, the majority of the studies (>50%) were at low risk of bias, considering adequate sequence generation, allocation concealment, blinding, evaluation of incomplete outcome data, and lack of selective reporting. For the studies on the telephone reminders, only the evaluation of incomplete outcome data accounted for more than 50% of studies being at low risk of bias. The pooled odds ratio (OR) for the improvement of follow-up adherence in the SMS group compared with the control group was 1.76 (95% CI [1.37, 2.26]; P<0.01), and the pooled OR for the improvement of follow-up adherence in the telephone group compared with the control group was 2.09 (95% CI [1.85, 2.36]; P<0.01); both sets showed no evidence of publication bias.</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>SMS and telephone reminders could both significantly improve the FUR. Telephone reminders were more effective but had a higher risk of bias than SMS reminders.</p></div

Funnel plots for publication bias testing.

<p>Panel A, SMS reminder effect; Panel B, telephone reminder effect. Each point represents a separate study on the indicated association. The vertical line represents the mean effect size. Generally, the points are distributed symmetrically as an inverted funnel, indicating minor publication bias.</p

Main characteristics of the eligible studies included in the systematic review.

<p>Main characteristics of the eligible studies included in the systematic review.</p

Risk-of-bias graphs.

<p>Panel A, evaluation of the study quality of RCTs on SMS reminders; Panel B, evaluation of the study quality of RCTs on telephone reminders. The green bar means reported and a low risk of bias, the yellow bar means unreported and a moderate risk of bias, and the red bar means unreported and a high risk of bias.</p

Flowchart of the included and excluded studies.

<p>Flowchart of the included and excluded studies.</p

Association of <i>OGG1</i> and <i>MTHFR</i> polymorphisms with age-related cataract: A systematic review and meta-analysis

<div><p>Purpose</p><p>To discern and confirm genetic biomarkers that help identify populations at high risk for age-related cataract (ARC).</p><p>Methods</p><p>A literature search was performed in the PubMed, Web of Science and China National Knowledge Internet databases for genetic association studies published before June 26, 2016 regarding ARC susceptibility. All genetic polymorphisms reported were systematically reviewed, followed by extraction of candidate genes/loci with sufficient genotype data in ≥3 studies for the meta-analysis. A random/fixed-effects model was used to calculate the pooled odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals to evaluate the associations considering multiple genetic models. Sensitivity analysis was also performed.</p><p>Results</p><p>A total of 144 polymorphisms in 36 genes were reported in the 61 previous genetic association studies. Thereby, three polymorphisms of two genes (8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase-1 [<i>OGG1</i>]; methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase NADPH [<i>MTHFR</i>]) in eight studies were included in the meta-analysis. Regarding the <i>OGG1</i>-rs1052133, the <i>GG</i> (OR = 1.925; 95%CI, 1.181–3.136; <i>p</i> = 0.009) and <i>CG</i> (OR = 1.384; 95%CI, 1.171–1.636; <i>p</i><0.001) genotypes indicated higher risk of ARC. For the <i>MTHFR</i> gene, the <i>CC+TT</i> genotype of rs1801133 might be protective (OR, 0.838; 95%CI, 0.710–0.989; <i>p</i> = 0.036), whereas the <i>AA+CC</i> genotype of rs1801131 indicated increased risk for the mixed subtype (OR = 1.517; 95%CI, 1.113–2.067; <i>p</i> = 0.008).</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>Polymorphisms of <i>OGG1</i> and <i>MTHFR</i> genes are associated with ARC susceptibility and may help identify populations at high risk for ARC.</p></div

Systematic review of the genetic polymorphisms in previous association studies regarding age-related cataract.

<p>Systematic review of the genetic polymorphisms in previous association studies regarding age-related cataract.</p

Sensitivity analysis for the association of <i>OGG1</i> and <i>MTHFR</i> genes with age-related cataract.

<p>(A) <i>OGG1</i> rs1052133, sensitivity analysis of all cases in codominant model <i>CG</i> vs <i>CC</i>. (B) <i>OGG1</i> rs1052133, sensitivity analysis of cortical cases in codominant model <i>CG</i> vs <i>CC</i>. (C) <i>MTHFR</i> rs1801133, sensitivity analysis of all cases in overdominant model <i>CC+TT</i> vs <i>CT</i>.</p

Funnel plot of the association of <i>OGG1</i> and <i>MTHFR</i> genes with age-related cataract.

<p>(A) <i>OGG1</i> rs1052133, funnel plot of all cases in codominant model <i>CG</i> vs <i>CC</i>. (B) <i>OGG1</i> rs1052133, funnel plot of cortical cases in codominant model <i>CG</i> vs <i>CC</i>. (C) <i>MTHFR</i> rs1801133, funnel plot of all cases in overdominant model <i>CC+TT</i> vs <i>CT</i>.</p