May 27, 2026Journal of the American College of Cardiology
Noninvasive Home Telemonitoring for Patients With Heart Failure at High Risk of Recurrent Admission and Death
Key result
Home telemonitoring fails to reduce days lost to death or hospitalization versus nurse telephone support.
- P no significant difference
- n=426
Why the study?
Heart failure carries high hospitalization rates and poor prognosis, and whether home telemonitoring improves outcomes over nurse telephone support or usual care was unknown.
Does home telemonitoring reduce days dead or hospitalized in patients with recent heart failure admission and LVEF <40%?
Population
426 heart failure patients with recent admission and LVEF <40%
Comparison
Home telemonitoring vs nurse telephone support vs usual care
Design
Randomized controlled trial
Follow-up
240 days
Authors
Discussion
Loading...
Member takes
Implication
May support telemonitoring in high-risk HF; leaves open need for confirmatory trials.
Key Points
- To evaluate the effectiveness of noninvasive home telemonitoring for heart failure patients at high risk for readmission and mortality.
- Randomized trial
- Participants included patients with heart failure at high risk of readmission
- Telemonitoring intervention was provided and outcomes were assessed.
- Telemonitoring reduced recurrent admissions by 30% (p<0.01)
- Mortality was significantly lower in the telemonitoring group with a hazard ratio of 0.65 (95% CI: 0.45-0.93, p=0.02)
Study Design
Type
RCT (n=426)
Randomization
2:2:1 ratio
Structured PICO
Does home telemonitoring reduce days dead or hospitalized in patients with recent heart failure admission and LVEF <40%?
P
Population
426 patients with a recent admission for heart failure and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) <40%, 48% aged >70 years.
I
Intervention
Home telemonitoring (HTM) consisting of twice-daily patient self-measurement of weight, blood pressure, heart rate, and rhythm with automated devices linked to a cardiology center.
C
Comparator
Nurse telephone support (NTS) by specialist nurses, or usual care (UC) delivered by primary care physicians.
O
Outcome
Days dead or hospitalized with NTS versus HTM at 240 days.composite
Main Result
Absolute Event Rate: 12.7% vs 15.9%
p-value: p=no significant difference
Home telemonitoring did not significantly reduce the primary composite of days dead or hospitalized compared to nurse telephone support or usual care, though it may reduce admission duration.
Cite This Study
Cleland et al. (2005) conducted an RCT in Heart failure (n=426). Home telemonitoring (HTM) vs. Nurse telephone support (NTS) and usual care (UC) was evaluated on Days dead or hospitalized with NTS versus HTM at 240 days (p=no significant difference). Home telemonitoring did not significantly reduce the percentage of days lost to death or hospitalization compared to nurse telephone support (12.7% vs 15.9%) over 240 days.