Remote Patient Monitoring May Lower Heart Failure Risk

Meta-analysis finds lower risk of death and hospitalizations with remote patient monitoring

THURSDAY, Oct. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Heart failure patients whose status was checked regularly using remote patient monitoring (RPM), had reduced risk of death and hospitalization compared to patients who received usual standard of care, according to a study in the Oct. 27 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Catherine Klersy, M.D., of the Scientific Direction Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo in Pavia, Italy, and colleagues screened 96 articles published between January 2000 and October 2008 comparing the delivery of heart failure care either through in-person visits (usual care) or RPM by regular telephone contact or electronic monitoring equipment. Thirty-two of 96 articles screened met the criteria for the meta-analysis, including 20 articles on randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving a total of 6,258 subjects, and 12 articles on cohort studies involving 2,354 subjects.

The researchers found that both the RCTs and the cohort studies demonstrated an association between RPM and a significant reduction in risk of death (RCT relative risk, 0.83 and cohort relative risk, 0.53) as well as hospitalizations (relative risks, 0.93 and 0.52, respectively).

"The results of this meta-analysis support the benefit of RPM on mortality and hospitalization rates. This benefit was present in both RCTs and cohort studies. This analysis provides further support for the recent recommendation by European and American scientific societies. Mid- and long-term cost-effectiveness of RPM, however, remains to be evaluated," the authors write.

Several authors reported financial and consulting relationships with pharmaceutical and medical device companies.

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