Self-care Practices of Patients With Heart Failure Using Wearable Electronic Devices: A Systematic Review

Heart failure (HF) is the fastest growing cardiovascular condition globally; associated management costs and hospitalizations place an immense burden on healthcare systems. Wearable electronic devices (WEDs) may be useful tools to enhance HF management and mitigate negative health outcomes.

We aimed to perform a systematic review to examine the potential of WEDs to support HF self-care in ambulatory patients at home.

Five databases were searched for studies published between 2007 and May 2022, including OVID MEDLINE, EMBASE (OVID), APA PsycINFO (OVID), Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (OVID), and CINAHL Plus with Full Text (Ebsco). After 6210 duplicates were removed, 4045 records were screened and 6 were included for review (2 conference abstracts and 4 full-text citations). All studies used WEDs as 1 component of a larger intervention.

Outcome measures included quality of life, physical activity, self-efficacy, self-care, functional status, time to readmission, social isolation, and mood. Studies were of moderate to high quality and mixed findings were reported. Enhanced exercise habits and motivational behavior to exercise, as well as decreased adverse symptoms of fatigue and dyspnea, were identified in 2 studies. However, improvements in exercise capacity and increased motivational behavior did not lead to exercise adherence in another 2 studies.

The findings from this review suggest that WEDs may be a viable health behavior improvement strategy for patients with HF. However, studies of higher quality, with the primary intervention being a WED, and consistent outcome measures are needed to replicate the positive findings of studies identified in this review.