Effectiveness of a Multiparametric Telemonitoring System on Prevention of Hospital Admissions and Mortality In Elderly People With Chronic Heart Failure

The participants were recruited in two settings:

• Patients discharged with a first diagnosis of heart failure from the Geriatric Acute Care ward of a teaching hospital ("Policlinico Campus Bio-Medico", Rome, Italy);
• Patients with a principal diagnosis of heart failure attending the outpatients clinic of the same hospital.

All the participants were evaluated at baseline and at the end of the study using a multi-dimensional assessment including well validated and routinely used tools to screen geriatric patients in order to detect global, physical and instrumental autonomy and consequent degree of dependence, as well as cognitive status. The assessment tool included: Activities of daily living scale (ADL) and Instrumental activities of daily living scale (IADL); Abbreviated mental Test; Geriatric Depression Scale; Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly; Six-minute walking test; The Short Form Health Survey (SF-12); Cumulative Illness Rating Scale (CIRS); complete list of drugs.

Once written consent form was obtained, participants were allocated to the study groups in a 1:1 ratio using a computer-generated random list of number.

Participants were followed up for six months. Patients in the intervention group were monitored via a system called PHEBO (Platform for High tech Evaluation of Biometrics Observation) that consisted of a commercial Android-based smartphone and a kit of measurement instruments (sphygmomanometer, pulse oximeter and an electronic scale) with a bluetooth transmitter.