title: The TeleGuard trial of additional telemedicine care in CAD patients. 2 Morbidity and mortality after 12 months.
abstract: In the TeleGuard trial, 1500 patients with established coronary artery disease (CAD) were recruited and randomized to control or intervention groups. Patients in the intervention group were equipped with a 12-lead event recorder and could contact a call centre and transmit an ECG whenever they wished. In a 12-month study, the composite endpoint (all-cause mortality, myocardial infarction, re-hospitalization or re-vascularization) was seen in 40% of the intervention patients and in 38% of the control patients. In both groups, approximately 40% were re-hospitalized. In total, 73 patients experienced re-vascularization, 75 showed an infarction and 33 died. Equipping CAD patients with a 12-lead ECG device and providing a telemedicine centre with 24-hour availability did not decrease risk for the composite endpoint (re-hospitalization, re-vascularization, (subsequent) myocardial infarction and/or death). It is likely that the clinical pathway used in the telemedicine centre led to an increased hospital admission rate in the intervention group.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Social Medicine, University of Luebeck, Luebeck, Germany. Annika.Waldmann@krebsregister-sh.de
authors.forename: Annika
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Waldmann
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Katalinic
authors.forename: Bernhard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schwaab
authors.forename: Gert
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Richardt
authors.forename: Abdolhamid
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sheikhzadeh
authors.forename: Heiner
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Raspe
mesh_terms: D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000401:mortality*; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000517:prevention & control; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016896:Treatment Outcome