Effect of telemedicine on self-care in patients with heart failure: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Although many studies have investigated the impact of telemedicine interventions on the outcomes of patients with heart failure (HF), the evidence on the impact of telemedicine interventions on self-care of patients with HF is still inconclusive. The objective was to explore the effect of non-invasive telemedicine on self-care ability of patients with HF.

We searched PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and CINAHL databases for randomized controlled trials published in English from inception to 5 December 2024. The interventions considered included a variety of telemedicine approaches for monitoring patients with HF. The primary outcome was patient self-care; the European Heart Failure Self-Care Behaviuor Scale was used for evaluation. And the secondary outcome was patient satisfaction with quality of life. Meta-regression was subsequently performed to explore the relationship between telemedicine monitoring and its effectiveness. A total of seven studies involving 2853 patients were included. Meta-analysis showed that telemedicine significantly improved the self-care ability of HF patients (standardized mean difference [SMD] = -0.23, 95% CI -0.3 to -0.15, P < 0.01), but it did not significantly improve the quality of life of HF patients (MD = 0.05, 95% CI -3.78 to 3.89, P = 0.98). In addition, subgroup analysis showed that telemedicine intervention for 3 months (MD = -4.30, 95% CI -7.24 to -1.36, P = 0.004) and 6-12 months (SMD = -0.19, 95% CI -0.28 to -0.11, P < 0.01) had a significant impact on the self-care ability of the study subjects.

Studies have found that patients with HF can benefit from telemedicine monitoring, which can effectively improve the self-care ability of patients with HF, but the improvement of their quality of life is not obvious.

PROSPERO: CRD42024623404.