Telemonitoring in patients with COPD: A prospective study with results from the AIRE project

To evaluate the real-world effectiveness of a home telemonitoring (HTM) system on exacerbations, hospital admissions, and quality of life in patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) exacerbators, and to analyse how to implement it within the local public healthcare system of Andalusia, Spain.

A prospective, multicentre, single-arm study was conducted over a period of 12 months, designed as an intervention program with daily follow-up through an existing platform within the Andalusian Health System and a custom-designed mobile application. The HTM programme was jointly coordinated by pulmonologists and primary care and emergency physicians. Programme effectiveness is assessed by comparing the number of pre- and post-intervention exacerbations, hospitalizations and the quality life.

A total of 104 patients were included, with 34 dropouts and 70 active participants. Implementation of the HTM programme resulted in a 44.3 % reduction in exacerbations (mean 2.64 vs 1.47, p < 0.001) and a 51.58 % reduction in hospitalizations (mean 0.95 vs 0.46, p < 0.001). The quality of life score, measured by the COPD Assessment Test (CAT questionnaire), improved by 4 points (26 %, 14.81 vs 10.97, p < 0.001). Adding this system to the Andalusian healthcare system proved highly effective, dealing with 32,894 incidents, 21,927 biomedical records, and 1560 alerts, 240 of which were classified as moderate or high severity.

This real-world test of an HTM programme, implemented as part of the public healthcare system and utilizing pre-existing healthcare resources, has demonstrated a significant reduction in exacerbations and hospital admissions, along with an improvement in the quality of life for patients with COPD.