eHealth tools to assess neurological function: a systematic review protocol for a mapping exercise.

Abstract

Population-based epidemiological studies investigating risk/protective factors are outlining prevention strategies for neurological conditions that often do not have effective treatment. However, ascertaining neurological outcomes can be a time consuming and expensive process, often requiring specialised personnel and/or equipment. Thus, collecting neurological data on a large scale has been an ongoing challenge for clinicians and researchers alike. The development of new technology and the emergence of several opportunities to adapt it to the health research and practice (eHealth) can be a promising solution to this problem. Several neurological eHealth tools have been developed, with many others being currently planned. We propose a systematic review mapping the available eHealth tools for assessing the different aspects of neurological function. The search aims at identifying studies published in peer-reviewed journals, which focused on the development or implementation of eHealth for assessing neurological signs or symptoms. Four engine databases are being considered (PubMed, EBSCOhost, Web of Science and Scopus), and data extraction will follow a process aimed at classifying them by their characteristics and purposes. This mapping exercise will be made available to researchers in order to aid them in successfully ascertaining neurological outcomes in large population-based epidemiological studies. Given the nature of this study, no ethical clearance was needed to conduct the review.