During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, it has become difficult to provide centre-based cardiac rehabilitation for heart failure patients. Digital therapeutics is a novel concept proposed in recent years that refers to the use of evidence-based therapeutic interventions driven by high-quality software programs to treat, manage, or prevent a medical condition. However, little is known about the use of this technology in heart failure patients. This study aims to explore the safety and efficacy of digital therapeutics-based cardiac rehabilitation in heart failure patients and to provide new insights into a new cardiac rehabilitation model during the COVID-19 era. To identify technologies related to digital therapeutics, such as the use of medical applications, wearable devices, and the Internet, all relevant studies published on PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane database, and China National Knowledge Internet were searched from the time the database was established until October 2021. The PEDro was used to assess the quality of included studies. We ultimately identified five studies, which included 1119 patients. The mean age was 66.37, the mean BMI was 25.9, and the NYHA classification ranged from I to III (I = 232, II = 157, III = 209). The mean 6-min walk distance was 397.7 m. The PEDro scores included in the study ranged from 4 to 8, with a mean of 5.8. Exercise training was performed in four studies, and psychological interventions were conducted in three studies. No death or serious adverse events were observed. Adherence was reported in three studies, and all exceeded 85%. The results of most studies showed that digital therapeutics-based cardiac rehabilitation significantly increases exercise capacity and quality of life in heart failure patients. Overall, although this study suggests that digital therapeutics-based cardiac rehabilitation may be a viable intervention for heart failure patients during the COVID-19 era, the efficacy of this new model in routine clinical practice needs to be further validated in a large clinical trial.

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BackgroundInspiratory muscle training (IMT) is a simple and well-tolerated physical therapy that increases respiratory muscle strength and relieving the degree of dyspnea and fatigue. Therefore, it may be used as a transitional modality before exercise training or as a specific physical therapy intervention for those who are diagnosed with respiratory muscle weakness. However, the current evidence on IMT in pulmonary hypertension (PH) patients is inconclusive. The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to summarize the current role of IMT in this group of patients.MethodsPubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane databases were searched through May 2022. Trials examining the feasibility and effectiveness of IMT in PH patients. Outcome measures included adverse events, training adherence and compliance, maximum inspiratory pressure (MIP), maximum expiratory pressure (MEP), forced vital capacity (FVC%), forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1%), FEV1/FVC%, 6 min walk distance (6MWD), Peak VO2, dyspnea, and fatigue perception after the IMT training program. Only randomized controlled trials were included. The Cochrane Risk of Bias tool for controlled trials was adopted to assess study quality. Statistical heterogeneity was evaluated with the chi-square test and I2 statistic. Mean differences and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated.ResultsWe ultimately identified four studies that met the criteria. These studies comprised 80 patients with 16 males and 64 females. The mean age was 53.25. The main types of PH were group I (pulmonary arterial hypertension, 95%) and group IV (chronic thromboembolic PH, 5%). No severe adverse events were reported in the included studies. IMT had a significant effect on improving MIP (18.89 cmH2O; 95% CI: 9.43–28.35, P < 0.001) and MEP (8.06 cmH2O; 95% CI: 2.39–13.73; P = 0.005), increase in the 6MWD (30.16 m; 95% CI: 1.53–58.79; P = 0.04). No significant improvement was found in pulmonary function (P > 0.05), and uncertain effect on the quality of life (QoL) score.ConclusionBased on currently limited evidence, IMT is an effective physical therapy for increasing respiratory muscle function and exercise capacity, but still a lack of evidence on dyspnea and fatigue levels, pulmonary function, and QoL in PH patients. There are reasons to believe that IMT is a promising intervention in PH patients, enriching rehabilitation options and serving as a bridge before formal exercise training. It is expected that IMT will play an important role in the future clinical pathway of physical therapy for this group of patients.Systematic review registration[https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/logout.php], identifier [CRD42022335972].

AimThis study innovatively proposed the 1-min sit-to-stand test (1-min STST) as an assessment tool for functional capacity in acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF), in which its feasibility and safety were investigated.MethodsThis was a prospective, single-center cohort study. The 1-min STST was performed after the first 48 h of admission when vital signs and Borg score were collected. Lung ultrasound was used to measure pulmonary edema by B-lines before and after the test.ResultsSeventy-five patients were enrolled in the study, of whom 40% were in functional class IV on admission. The mean age was 58.3 ± 15.7 years and 40% of the patients were male. 95% patients accomplished the test and the average number of repetitions was 18 ± 7. No adverse event was recorded during or after the 1-min STST. Blood pressure, heart rate, and degree of dyspnea were increased after the test (all p < 0.001), while oxygen saturation was slightly decreased (97.0 ± 1.6 vs. 96.3 ± 2.0%, p = 0.003). The degree of pulmonary edema (χ2 = 8.300, p = 0.081) was not significantly changed, while there was a reduction in the absolute number of B-lines [9 (3, 16) vs. 7 (3, 13), p = 0.008].ConclusionThe application of the 1-min STST in early stage of ADHF appeared to be safe and feasible, which induce neither adverse event nor pulmonary edema. It may serve as a new tool of functional capacity assessment, as well as a reference of exercise rehabilitation.

Objectives: To review the efficacy of two scoring tools for identifying pulmonary complications after cardiac surgery.Method: A total of 244 patients underwent elective cardiac surgery between March 2021 and December 2021 were included in this observational study. Three independent physiotherapists use two different sets of PPC scoring criteria, described by Kroenke et al (Kroenke Score) and Reeve et al (Melbourne Group Scale [MGS]) to evaluate PPC status daily following surgery at midday. We then retrospective analysis the occurrence of PPC was performed 14 days postoperatively according to European Perioperative Clinical Outcome (EPCO) definitions (included atelectasis, pleural effusion, pneumonia and respiratory failure).Result: PPC frequency was 46.31% (113/244) with the Kroenke Score, 25.82% (63/244) with the Melbourne Group Scale. The clinically observed incidence of PPC (atelectasis 41.80%, pleural effusion 24.59%, pneumonia 40.57%, respiratory failure 20.08%) was 53.69% (131/244). The ROC curve shows that the overall validity of the Kroenke score is better than that of the Melbourne Group Scale (AUC, 0.94 vs. 0.88, p=0.01). The Kroenke Score performed better in open-heart surgery cohort than the Melbourne Group Scale (AUC, 0.97 vs. 0.87, p<0.01), while in interventional procedures cohort show similar (AUC, 0.90 vs. 0.86, p=0.32).Conclusion: The incidence of pulmonary complications following cardiac surgery was highly prevalent. Both the Kroenke Score and the MGS score are effective in identifying patients with postoperative pulmonary complications. The two scoring tools performed comparably in the interventional procedure population. Compared to MGS, the Kroenke Score performed better in the open-heart surgery population.Clinical Trial Registration: Chinese Clinical Trials Registry, identifier ChiCTR2100054869 (http://www.chictr.org.cn/).