Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare > Volume 14, Number 6 > Pp. 300-305

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RESEARCH Original articles

Impact of telemonitoring at home on the management of elderly patients with congestive heart failure

Roberto Antonicelli ^* , Paolo Testarmata ^*, Liana Spazzafumo ^*, Cristina Gagliardi ^*, Grzegorz Bilo , Mariaconsuelo Valentini , Fabiola Olivieri ^*  and Gianfranco Parati 

^* Department of Cardiology and Telemedicine, Italian National Research Centre on Ageing, Ancona; Department of Cardiology, Istituto Auxologico Italiano and Department of Clinical Medicine and Prevention, University of Milan-Bicocca, Milan; Department of Molecular Pathology and Innovative Therapy, Polytechnic University of Marche, Ancona, Italy

Correspondence: Dr Roberto Antonicelli, Department of Cardiology and Telemedicine, Italian National Research Centre on Ageing, Via della Montagnola 81, 60100 Ancona, Italy (Fax: +39 071 800 3203; Email: r.antonicelli{at}inrca.it)

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.

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