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Personalised telehealth intervention for chronic disease management: a pilot randomised controlled trial

journal contribution
posted on 2019-07-01, 00:00 authored by Shalika Bohingamu MudiyanselageShalika Bohingamu Mudiyanselage, Jo Stevens, Jennifer WattsJennifer Watts, Julian Toscano, Mark KotowiczMark Kotowicz, Christopher L Steinfort, Jennifer Bell, Janette Byrnes, Stephanie Bruce, Sarah Carter, Claire Hunter, Chris Barrand, Robyn Hayles
Introduction The aim of this study was to assess the impact of home-based telehealth monitoring on health outcomes, quality of life and costs over 12 months for patients with diabetes and/or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) who were identified as being at high risk of readmission to hospital. Methods This pilot study was a randomised controlled trial combined with an economic analysis to examine the outcomes of standard care versus home-based telehealth for people with diabetes and/or COPD who were at risk of hospital readmission within one year. The primary outcomes were (i) hospital admission and length of stay (LOS); and (ii) health-related quality of life (HRQOL); and the secondary outcomes were (i) health-related clinical outcomes; (ii) anxiety and depression scores; and (iii) health literacy. The costs of the intervention and hospitalisations were included. Results A total of 86 and 85 participants were randomised to the intervention and control groups respectively. The difference between groups in hospital LOS was -3.89 (95% confidence interval (CI): -9.40, 1.62) days, and for HRQOL, 0.09 (95% CI: 0.05, 0.14) in favour of the telehealth monitoring group. There was a saving of AUD$6553 (95% CI: -12145, -961) in the cost of hospitalisation over 12 months, which offset the increased cost of tele-monitoring. The intervention group showed an improvement in anxiety, depression and health literacy at 12 months, and in the diabetes group, a reduction in microalbuminuria. Discussion The telehealth monitoring intervention improved patient's health outcomes and quality of life at no additional cost.

History

Journal

Journal of telemedicine and telecare

Volume

25

Issue

6

Pagination

343 - 352

Publisher

Sage

Location

London, Eng.

eISSN

1758-1109

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2018, The Author(s)