A systematic review examining the clinical and health-care outcomes for congenital heart disease patients using home monitoring programmes

OBJECTIVES: This review aimed to present the clinical and health-care outcomes for patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) who use home monitoring technologies. METHODS: Five databases were systematically searched from inception to November 2020 for quantitative studies in this area. Data were extracted using a pre-formatted data-collection table which included information on participants, interventions, outcome measures and results. Risk of bias was determined using the Cochrane Risk of Bias 2 tool for randomised controlled trials (RCTs), the Newcastle–Ottawa Quality Assessment Scale for cohort studies and the Institute of Health Economics quality appraisal checklist for case-series studies. Data synthesis: Twenty-two studies were included in this systematic review, which included four RCTs, 12 cohort studies and six case-series studies. Seventeen studies reported on mortality rates, with 59% reporting that home monitoring programmes were associated with either a significant reduction or trend for lower mortality and 12% reporting that mortality trended higher. Fourteen studies reported on unplanned readmissions/health-care resource use, with 29% of studies reporting that this outcome was significantly decreased or trended lower with home monitoring and 21% reported an increase. Impact on treatment was reported in 15 studies, with 67% of studies finding that either treatment was undertaken significantly earlier or significantly more interventions were undertaken in the home monitoring groups. CONCLUSION: The use of home monitoring programmes may be beneficial in reducing mortality, enabling earlier and more timely detection and treatment of CHD complication. However, currently, this evidence is limited due to weakness in study designs.