Telemonitoring in patients with heart failure: Is there a long-term effect?:

IntroductionEvidence suggests that telemonitoring decreases mortality and heart failure (HF)-related hospital admission in patients with HF. However, most studies follow their patients for only several months. Little is known about the long-term effects of telemonitoring after a period of application.MethodsIn 2007, the TEHAF study was initiated to compare tailored telemonitoring with usual care with respect to time until first HF-related hospital admission. In total, 301 patients completed the study after a follow-up period of one year. No differences could be found in time to first HF-related admission between intervention and control groups. Here, we performed a retrospective analysis in order to investigate potential long-term effects of telemonitoring. The primary endpoint was time to first HF-related hospital admission. Secondary endpoints were, amongst others, all-cause mortality, hospital admission due to HF and days alive and out of hospital (DAOOH). Electronic files of all included patients were...