A recent study in Spain found that mobile health technology combining telemonitoring and teleintervention significantly reduced the risk of fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular events in patients recently hospitalized for heart failure (HF) decompensation. This approach proved more effective than usual post-discharge care.
Study Design And Participants
The randomized, phase 3, multicenter trial included 506 adults with a mean age of 73 years, 41% of whom were women. All participants had been hospitalized for HF decompensation and were either discharged within the last 30 days or undergoing discharge planning.
Between May 2018 and April 2022, patients were randomly assigned to one of two groups. The first group (255 patients) received a mobile health service that included telemonitoring and scheduled healthcare follow-ups via videoconference. The second group (251 patients) received usual care, which consisted of face-to-face visits and a nurse-led educational program focused on daily monitoring of biomedical data.
The mobile health service used a smartphone app connected to medical devices, allowing continuous tracking of biometric data after discharge.
Key Findings
Over a six-month follow-up period, the mobile health group showed a 65% lower risk of experiencing the primary composite outcome—cardiovascular death or worsening HF events—compared to the usual care group (hazard ratio, 0.35; P < .0001).
Specifically, the risk of worsening HF events was reduced by 70% (P < .0001), and the risk of cardiovascular death dropped by 54% (P = .047) in the mobile health group.
Patients using mobile health technology also had fewer non-fatal events, reduced all-cause mortality, and fewer cardiovascular hospitalizations. Additionally, they reported improvements in self-care and overall quality of life.
Safety
No adverse effects were spontaneously reported in either group during the study.
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