Patients on home telehealth monitoring have more days alive and out of hospital

Although randomised controlled studies have demonstrated that home tele monitoring might improve outcomes for patients being discharged from hospital following an admission for heart failure, it is not known whether the effect is seen in patients encountered in daily practice. We investigated the impact of Home Telehealth Monitoring (HTM) using a dedicated heart failure database in Hull, UK. We used propensity matching to compare outcomes between patients receiving HTM and those not. After matching there were 202 patients (26% Female, 68.3 ± 12.5 years). The primary endpoint was mortality at 1 year. Patients who received usual care had a greater risk of 1 year mortality (HR: 3.20, 95% CI: 1.40 - 7.28, P = 0.006) and a greater risk of death at 3 years (HR: 1.75, 95% CI: 1.05- 2.90, P = 0.03). There was no difference between the groups in the composite endpoint of hospitalisation or death within one year (HR: 0.74, 95% CI: 0.51- 1.07, P = 0.11). Patients using HTM spent 96% of the available days alive and out of hospital compared with 87% of the usual care group. HTM thus improves outcomes in realworld patients discharged from hospital following an admission for heart failure.