Nocturnal digital surveillance in aged populations and its effects on health, welfare and social care provision: a systematic review

Abstract BackgroundThis systematic review summarized the effects of nocturnal digital surveillance technologies on health, welfare and social care provision outcomes in populations ≥ 50 years, compared to standard care.Primary studies published 2005-2020 that assessed these technologies were identified in 11 databases of peer-reviewed literature and numerous grey literature sources. Five publications out of 629 met inclusion criteria. The Risk of Bias 2.0 and ROBINS-I tools were used for quality assessment. ResultHealth-related outcomes (e.g. injuries, unexplained absences) and social care outcomes (e.g. staff burden) did not differ between interventions and standard care. Quality of life and affect showed improvement with some interventions, as did economic outcomes in one setting. The quality of studies was low however, with a serious to critical risk of bias. ConclusionWe found little evidence for the benefit of nocturnal digital surveillance interventions as compared to standard care in several key outcomes. Higher quality intervention studies should be prioritized in future research to provide more reliable evidence.