Patients were generally satisfied and found the systems useful to help them manage their disease and improve healthcare provision .
Nevertheless , they reported some difficulties in their use , which in some studies were related to lower compliance rates .
AIM This systematic review aim ed to provide a comprehensive description of the method ologies used in home telemonitoring interventions for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease ( COPD ) and to explore patients ' adherence and satisfaction with the use of telemonitoring systems .
Integrated care prevents hospitalisations for exacerbations in COPD patients
Hospital admissions due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease ( COPD ) exacerbations have a major impact on the disease evolution and costs . The current authors postulated that a simple and well-st and ardised , low-intensity integrated care intervention can be effective to prevent such hospitalisations . Therefore , 155 exacerbated COPD patients ( 17 % females ) were recruited after hospital discharge from centres in Barcelona ( Spain ) and Leuven ( Belgium ) . They were r and omly assigned to either integrated care ( IC ; n = 65 ; age mean±sd 70±9 yrs ; forced expiratory volume in one second ( FEV1 ) 1.1±0.5 L , 43 % predicted ) or usual care ( UC ; n = 90 ; age 72±9 yrs ; FEV1 1.1±0.05 L , 41 % pred ) . The IC intervention consisted of an individually tailored care plan upon discharge shared with the primary care team , as well as accessibility to a specialised nurse case manager through a web-based call centre . After 12 months ’ follow-up , IC showed a lower hospitalisation rate ( 1.5±2.6 versus 2.1±3.1 ) and a higher percentage of patients without re-admissions ( 49 versus 31 % ) than UC without differences in mortality ( 19 versus 16 % , respectively ) . In conclusion , this trial demonstrates that a st and ardised integrated care intervention , based on shared care arrangements among different levels of the system with support of information technologies , effectively prevents hospitalisations for exacerbations in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients
Patients were generally satisfied and found the systems useful to help them manage their disease and improve healthcare provision .
Nevertheless , they reported some difficulties in their use , which in some studies were related to lower compliance rates .
AIM This systematic review aim ed to provide a comprehensive description of the method ologies used in home telemonitoring interventions for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease ( COPD ) and to explore patients ' adherence and satisfaction with the use of telemonitoring systems .