Benefits and effectiveness of using a wrist heart rate monitor as a telerehabilitation device in cardiac patients: A randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND

Telerehabilitation in cardiology has the potential to become the alternative to regular outpatient cardiac rehabilitation. Our study focuses on the wrist heart rate monitor as a telerehabilitation device, defines detected limitations, and compares results between home-based and regular outpatient rehabilitation methods, related to physical fitness, quality of life, and training adherence. The study design was a randomized controlled trial.

METHODS

Eligible 56 cardiac rehabilitation patients were randomized into a 12-week regular outpatient training group (ROT) and interventional home-based telerehabilitation group (ITG). For both groups, the intensity of the training was prescribed to be performed at 70% to 80% of heart rate reserve for 60 minutes, 3 times a week. The ITG patients started their training with a wrist heart rate monitor in their home environment. These patients received feedback once a week, reflecting data uploaded on the internet application. The ROT patients performed their exercise under the direct supervision of a physical specialist in a regular outpatient clinic. Physical fitness and health-related quality of life were assessed at baseline and after 12 weeks. Training adherence in both groups was determined and compared.

RESULTS

Fifty-one patients comleted the intervention (91%); no serious adverse events were recorded. Physical fitness expressed as peak oxygen uptake showed significant improvement (P < .001) in ROT group from 23.4 ± 3.3 to 25.9 ± 4.1 mL/kg/min and (P < .01) in ITG group from 23.7 ± 4.1 to 26.5 ± 5.7 mL/kg/min without significant between-group differences after 12 weeks of intervention. The training adherence between groups was similar.

CONCLUSION

Our study shows that telerehabilitation via wrist heart rate monitor could become an alternative kind of cardiac rehabilitation which deserves attention and further analyzing.