Wearable equipment-based telemedical management via multiparameter monitoring on cardiovascular outcomes in elderly patients with chronic coronary heart disease: an open-labelled, randomised, controlled trial

Abstract

Background The prevalence of chronic coronary heart diseases (CHDs) increases with age in the elderly, which represents one of the top-ranked causes of death and disease burden.Methods This study aimed to investigate the management efficiency of telemedicine based on the remote multiparameter monitoring in elderly patients with CHD. A total of 1248 elderly patients diagnosed with CHD were enrolled. The subjects were randomly divided into two groups, wearable equipment-based telemedical management (WTM) group and traditional follow-up management (TFM) group. Face-to-face clinical interview at least once every 2 months was required in TFM group to collect the medical records. Patients in WTM group were provided with wearable equipment to complete remote monitoring, real-time alerts and health intervention via virtual consultations and remote medication recommendations.Results The mean age of patients in WTM group and TFM group was 71.1 (68.0–82.0) years and 71.0 (68.0–81.0) years, respectively‏. After a 12-month management, patients in WTM group presented a lower occurrence of hospitalisation (HR 0.59, 95% CI=0.47 to 0.73, p<0.0001) and major adverse cardiac events (HR 0.60, 95% CI=0.44 to 0.82, p=0.0012) compared with patients in TFM group.Conclusion The multiparameter telemedical management could help with the out-of-hospital management and reduce the incidence of rehospitalisation in elderly patients with CHD.