title: Systematic review of studies on telemonitoring of patients with congestive heart failure: a meta-analysis.
abstract: We conducted a systematic review of large, well-conducted randomised trials designed to evaluate the effectiveness of telemonitoring on patients with congestive heart failure (CHF). Two people reviewed 125 articles independently and selected 13 articles for final review. These studies concerned 3480 patients. The follow-up period of the studies was 3-15 months. Pooled estimate results showed that there was an overall reduction in all-cause mortality (P = 0.02). There was no overall reduction in all-cause hospital admission (P = 0.84), although there was a reduction in CHF hospital admission (P = 0.0004). There was no reduction in all-cause emergency admission (P = 0.67). There was no significant difference in length of stay in hospital, medication adherence or cost. Telemonitoring in conjunction with nurse home visiting and specialist unit support can be effective in the clinical management of patients with CHF and help to improve their quality of life.
authors.affiliation: School of Information Systems, Computing and Maths, Brunel University, Uxbridge UB8 3PH, UK. Malcolm.Clarke@brunel.ac.uk
authors.forename: Malcolm
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Clarke
authors.forename: Anila
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shah
authors.forename: Urvashi
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Sharma
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000401:mortality; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018670:Monitoring, Ambulatory / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011788:Quality of Life; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D016903:Drug Monitoring