Efficacy of different telemonitoring strategies on chronic heart failure care: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Growing interest on the effects of telemonitoring on patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) has led to a rise in the number of trials addressing the same or very similar research questions with a concomitant increase in discordant findings. Therefore, we conducted a protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis to compare the effects of different telemonitoring strategies on clinical outcomes in patients with CHF. METHODS: Two individual researchers conducted the platform searches on the PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Embase databases from inception to February 2022. Literature retrieving was carried out through a combined searching of subject terms (“MeSH” on PubMed and “Emtree” on “Embase”) and free terms on the platforms of PubMed and Embase, and through keywords searching on platform of Cochrane Library. Systematic review and meta-analysis of the data will be performed in STATA13.0 software according to the Preferred Reporting Items of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines. Two authors independently performed the literature searching, data extraction, and quality evaluation. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool for randomized controlled trials (RCTs). RESULTS: The results will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal. CONCLUSION: This meta-analysis will provide a comprehensive analysis and synthesis that can be used as an evidence map to inform practitioners and policy makers about the effectiveness of telemonitoring interventions for patients with CHF.