Clinical and cost-effectiveness of home-based cardiac rehabilitation compared to conventional, centre-based cardiac rehabilitation: Results of the FIT@Home study

TLDR: It is concluded that home-basedTraining with telemonitoring guidance can be used as an alternative to centre-based training for low-to-moderate cardiac risk patients entering cardiac rehabilitation and appears to be more cost-effective than centre- based training.

Abstract: AimAlthough cardiac rehabilitation improves physical fitness after a cardiac event, many eligible patients do not participate in cardiac rehabilitation and the beneficial effects of cardiac rehabilitation are often not maintained over time Home-based training with telemonitoring guidance could improve participation rates and enhance long-term effectivenessMethods and resultsWe randomised 90 low-to-moderate cardiac risk patients entering cardiac rehabilitation to three months of either home-based training with telemonitoring guidance or centre-based training Although training adherence was similar between groups, satisfaction was higher in the home-based group (p = 002) Physical fitness improved at discharge (p < 001) and at one-year follow-up (p < 001) in both groups, without differences between groups (home-based p = 031 and centre-based p = 087) Physical activity levels did not change during the one-year study period (centre-based p = 038, home-based p = 080) Healthcare costs were statistic