Quality of Life in Patients With Heart Failure Assisted By Telerehabilitation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Introduction: Heart failure (HF) is a syndrome that implies several physical and emotional changes that compromise quality of life. Telerehabilitation is a strategy developed with the aim of involving and motivating cardiac patients to participate in cardiac rehabilitation in their daily routine at home. Objective: To review the impact of telerehabilitation on the quality of life of patients with HF. Methods: This is a systematic review using the PICO strategy, with a search conducted in the electronic data sources PubMed, LILACS (Latin American and Caribbean Literature in Health Sciences) and SciELO (Scientific Electronic Library Online), with the following descriptors: heart failure, congestive heart failure, chronic heart failure, distance rehabilitation, virtual rehabilitation, telerehabilitation, telemedicine, quality of life and HRQoL, combined by the Boolean operators “AND” and “OR”, including articles between 2011 and 2021. Results: Nine articles were found after reading the abstract and titles; five of these met the inclusion criteria. They showed that telerehabilitation contributes to a better quality of life due to the daily increase in mental, social, and sexual activities, exercise tolerance, improvement of symptoms such as edema, fatigue, and dyspnea and reduction of mortality and readmission rates. Telerehabilitation was effective in improving quality of life in patients with HF (mean difference (MD) = -0,22; CI 95% -0.40 to 0.04. Conclusion: Telerehabilitation was at least as effective as usual care and conventional cardiac rehabilitation in improving the quality of life in patients with HF.

Telerehabilitation: Exploring the Untapped Potential

“…The home-based cardiac telerehabilitation increases cardio-respiratory fitness in patients suffering from coronary heart disease [ 22 ]. Telerehabilitation can improve the quality of life of heart failure patients by increasing mental, social, and sexual functions along with an increase in exercise capacity and reduction of symptoms, thus helping in regaining independence in carrying out activities of daily living [ 23 ].…”

Digital health and modern technologies applied in patients with heart failure: Can we support patients’ psychosocial well-being?

“…The study offered: HF patient education before hospital discharge, regularly scheduled telephone coaching, and home telemonitoring of symptoms ( Ong et al, 2016 ). Individuals participating in the intervention experienced improvements in their quality of life over the course of the study ( Cordeiro et al, 2022 ). Research has shown that telephone contact to a trained nurse with access to a family physician, can prevent hospitalization in a quarter of HF patients ( Kolasa et al, 2020 ).…”

“Future patient II” telerehabilitation for patients with heart failure: Protocol for a randomized controlled trial

“…Heart Failure (HF) is a global burden and a life-threatening disease, affecting over 60 million people worldwide, a survival-rate at approximately 35 %, and an increasing prevalence with age [ 1 , 2 ]. HF is associated with high healthcare costs and is a growing burden within the healthcare sector.…”

“…As a part of treating HF, cardiac rehabilitation (CR) plays an important role, as it aims to improve recovery through setting up programs and offering advice for patient's physical activity, diet disease management, and control of risk-factors associated with HF [ 3 , 4 ]. The major HF risk-factors include diabetes, high blood pressure, smoking, and obesity [ 1 ]. Furthermore, CR aims to improve recovery by enhancing the health-related quality of life in patients, which may be assessed using various quality of life surveys and questionnaires [ 4 ].…”

“…Patients with HF often receive a standardized CR program, which is often not tailored to their specific needs or life situation. This results in a lack of patient motivation to follow the program and low compliance, as the rehabilitation program fails to meet their personal needs, despite evidence showing a positive impact on the prognosis of HF [ 1 , 4 ]. Furthermore, the CR program is often conducted in the venue of a rehabilitation centre, or at the local hospital, which poses a challenge to some patients in terms of transport [ 3 , 4 ].…”