Conclusions : Telehealth interventions with a range of delivery modes could be offered to patients who can not attend cardiac rehabilitation , or as an adjunct to cardiac rehabilitation for effective secondary prevention
Background : Coronary heart disease ( CHD ) is a major cause of death worldwide .
Cardiac rehabilitation , an evidence -based CHD secondary prevention programme , remains underutilized .
Telehealth may offer an innovative solution to overcome barriers to cardiac rehabilitation attendance .
We aim ed to determine whether contemporary telehealth interventions can provide effective secondary prevention as an alternative or adjunct care compared with cardiac rehabilitation and /or usual care for patients with CHD .
Cardiac telerehabilitation: A novel cost-efficient care delivery strategy that can induce long-term health benefits
Background Finding innovative and cost-efficient care strategies that induce long-term health benefits in cardiac patients constitutes a big challenge today . The aim of this Telerehab III follow-up study was to assess whether a 6-month additional cardiac telerehabilitation programme could induce long-term health benefits and remain cost-efficient after the tele-intervention ended . Methods and results A total of 126 cardiac patients first completed the multicentre , r and omised controlled telerehabilitation trial ( Telerehab III , time points t0 to t1 ) . They consequently entered the follow-up study ( t1 ) with evaluations 2 years later ( t2 ) . A quantitative analysis of peak aerobic capacity ( VO2 peak , primary endpoint ) , international physical activity question naire self-reported physical activity and HeartQoL quality of life ( secondary endpoints ) was performed . The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was calculated . Even though a decline in VO2 peak ( 24 ± 8 ml/[min*kg ] at t1 and 22 ± 6 ml/[min*kg ] at t2 ; P ≤ 0.001 ) was observed within the tele-intervention group patients ; overall they did better than the no tele-intervention group ( P = 0.032 ) . Dividing the incremental cost ( −€878/patient ) by the differential incremental quality -adjusted life years ( QALYs ) ( 0.22 QALYs ) yielded an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of –€3993/QALY . Conclusions A combined telerehabilitation and centre-based programme , followed by transitional telerehabilitation induced persistent health benefits and remained cost-efficient up to 2 years after the end of the intervention . A partial decline of the benefits originally achieved did occur once the tele-intervention ended . Healthcare professionals should reflect on how innovative cost-efficient care models could be implemented in st and ard care . Future research should focus on key behaviour change techniques in technology-based interventions that enable full persistence of long-term behaviour change and health benefits . This study is registered in the IS RCT N registry ( IS RCT N29243064 )
Conclusions : Telehealth interventions with a range of delivery modes could be offered to patients who can not attend cardiac rehabilitation , or as an adjunct to cardiac rehabilitation for effective secondary prevention
Background : Coronary heart disease ( CHD ) is a major cause of death worldwide .
Cardiac rehabilitation , an evidence -based CHD secondary prevention programme , remains underutilized .
Telehealth may offer an innovative solution to overcome barriers to cardiac rehabilitation attendance .
We aim ed to determine whether contemporary telehealth interventions can provide effective secondary prevention as an alternative or adjunct care compared with cardiac rehabilitation and /or usual care for patients with CHD .