Remote transitional care improves depressive symptoms in stroke patients, meta-analysis finds

BackgroundStroke is a leading cause of adult disability and mortality worldwide. Although advances in acute stroke care have improved survival rates, challenges remain in the post-discharge transitional period. Remote transitional care has emerged as a promising service model to improve outcomes in stroke patients, but its effectiveness remains unclear.ObjectiveThis study aimed to systematically evaluate the effects of remote transitional care on quality of life, depressive symptoms, and readmission rates in stroke patients through meta-analysis.MethodsPubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, and Web of Science were systematically searched from inception to February 2026. Randomized controlled trials evaluating the effects of remote transitional care on stroke patients were included. Two reviewers independently performed study selection, data extraction, and risk of bias assessment using the Cochrane ROB 2.0 tool. Meta-analyses were conducted using RevMan 5.4 software. Mean differences or standardized mean differences were calculated for continuous outcomes, and risk ratios were calculated for dichotomous outcomes, with 95% confidence intervals for all effect estimates.ResultsSix randomized controlled trials were included. Meta-analysis demonstrated that remote transitional care significantly improved depressive symptoms in stroke patients (SMD = −0.28, 95% CI −0.44 to −0.12, p = 0.0005, I2 = 0%). However, no significant benefits were observed for quality of life (SMD = 0.04, 95% CI −0.02 to 0.10, p = 0.19, I2 = 4%) or readmission rates (RR = 1.21, 95% CI 0.82 to 1.78, p = 0.34, I2 = 0%). Sensitivity analyses confirmed the robustness of these findings. Risk of bias assessment rated five studies as having “some concerns” and one study as “high risk.”ConclusionRemote transitional care significantly improves depressive symptoms in stroke patients, although its effects on quality of life and readmission rates remain uncertain. Future high-quality, large-sample randomized controlled trials are needed to further validate its effectiveness and to explore optimal intervention modalities and implementation strategies.