Key result
Nurse-led mHealth interventions cut heart failure readmissions by ~22% while improving self-management.
Why the study?
Heart failure is a major cause of hospital readmissions and health care burden worldwide, and although nurse-led mobile health interventions are increasing, no evidence synthesis existed.
Do nurse-led mobile health (mHealth) interventions improve self-management and reduce hospital readmissions in adult patients with heart failure?
Meta-Analysis (n=2,437)
Open-label (unavoidable unblinding in included RCTs)
Randomized controlled trials included
Yes
Do nurse-led mobile health (mHealth) interventions improve self-management and reduce hospital readmissions in adult patients with heart failure?
Nurse-led mobile health interventions significantly reduce hospital readmissions and emergency department visits while improving self-management, quality of life, and medication adherence in adults with heart failure.
Supports integration of nurse-led mHealth into heart failure care to reduce readmissions; confirms and extends RCT evidence on self-management and outcomes.
Heart failure (HF) is a major issue of hospital readmission and health care burden worldwide. Although nurse-led mobile health interventions are increasing, no evidence synthesis exists. This systematic review and meta-analysis followed the PRISMA 2020 guideline. We searched five electronic databases (PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science) for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of nurse-led mHealth interventions in adult patients with HF from inception through May 2026. Two independent reviewers screened studies, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias using the Cochrane Risk of Bias 2.0 tool. We used the DerSimonian-Laird method to perform random-effects meta-analyses. We evaluated heterogeneity using I² statistics and explored intervention type and follow-up duration in subgroup analyses. The meta-analysis of 11 randomized controlled trials involving 2,437 participants demonstrated that nurse-led mHealth interventions significantly reduced hospital readmissions (RR = 0.78, 95% CI 0.65–0.93, p = 0.005) and emergency department visits (RR = 0.72, 95% CI 0.55–0.93, p = 0.01). Furthermore, these interventions yielded significant improvements in self-management scores (MD = 13.42, 95% CI 10.18–16.66, p < 0.00001), quality of life (MD = − 8.74, 95% CI − 11.53 to − 5.95, p < 0.00001), and medication adherence (MD = 16.24, 95% CI 11.92–20.56, p < 0.00001). All-cause mortality showed a non-significant trend toward reduction (RR = 0.82, 95% CI 0.65–1.04, p = 0.10), and effects did not significantly differ by mHealth modality or follow-up duration. Nurse-delivered mHealth interventions can improve self-management of heart failure, reduce rehospitalization and ED visits, and improve quality of life and medication adherence. These results provide evidence that nurse-led mHealth can be integrated into routine clinical practice for HF patients to improve outcomes and reduce health care utilization.
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Ma et al. (2026) conducted a meta-analysis in Heart failure (n=2,437). Nurse-led mobile health (mHealth) interventions vs. Usual care or non-mHealth control was evaluated on Hospital readmission (RR 0.78, 95% CI 0.65-0.93, p=0.005). Nurse-led mHealth interventions significantly reduced hospital readmissions by 22% (RR 0.78, 95% CI 0.65–0.93, p=0.005) and improved self-management (MD 13.42) in patients with heart failure.
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