Abstract Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an established therapy for Parkinson’s disease, yet conventional onsite programming mandates frequent travel to specialized centres, imposing substantial burdens on patients. Here we present a large real-world analysis of remote programming (RP) for DBS in China, drawing on 20,383 patients with Parkinson’s disease and 42,163 RP sessions (2012–2024). RP achieves comparable satisfaction and effectiveness to onsite programming while reducing the healthcare access inequality index by 30%. These access gains translate into disproportionate economic benefits for the most vulnerable groups, with cost savings two to ten times greater among low-income, remote and advanced-disease populations. Integrated clinical–labour–economy modelling projects annual direct economic benefits of ¥1.09 billion from reduced domestic medical tourism and ¥8.15 billion from labour-cost savings, with cumulative benefits of ¥115–270 billion by 2050 (3.9–9.2% of China’s 2024 basic medical insurance fund). These findings suggest that RP could be a clinically equivalent, more equitable and economically advantageous approach for postoperative DBS management worldwide.
Yang et al. (Fri,) studied this question.
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