Impact of telemonitoring at home on the management of elderly patients with congestive heart failure.
We studied the effects of home telemonitoring in elderly patients with congestive heart failure (CHF) on mortality and rate of hospitalization, compliance with treatment, quality of life and costs of CHF management, by comparison with a group receiving usual care. Fifty-seven elderly CHF patients were randomized to standard care or to home telemonitoring-based care and followed for 12 months. In the subjects who were monitored, weekly reports on their clinical status were obtained and their management was modified accordingly. Home telemonitoring was associated with improvements in the composite endpoint of mortality and rate of hospitalizations (P = 0.006), a better compliance with therapy, more frequent use of beta-blockers and statins, lower total cholesterol level and a better reported health perception score. The improved results with home telemonitoring in CHF were probably due to better compliance and to closer monitoring of the patients.
Antonicelli
Roberto
R
Department of Cardiology and Telemedicine, Italian National Research Centre on Ageing, Via della Montagnola 81, 60100 Ancona, Italy. r.antonicelli@inrca.it
Testarmata
Paolo
P
Spazzafumo
Liana
L
Gagliardi
Cristina
C
Bilo
Grzegorz
G
Valentini
Mariaconsuelo
M
Olivieri
Fabiola
F
Parati
Gianfranco
G
D000368:Aged; D002317:Cardiovascular Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D017028:Caregivers / Q000193:education; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000401:mortality; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards*; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010349:Patient Compliance / Q000523:psychology; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D002317:Cardiovascular Agents