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Tele-monitoring in paediatric and young home-ventilated neuromuscular patients: A multicentre case-control trial.
- Source :
-
Journal of Telemedicine & Telecare . Aug2019, Vol. 25 Issue 7, p414-424. 11p. 5 Charts, 4 Graphs. - Publication Year :
- 2019
-
Abstract
- <bold>Introduction: </bold>Tele-monitoring (TM) has proved effective in the home management of adult ventilator-dependent neuromuscular disease (NMD) patients. We aimed to evaluate a 2-year longitudinal multicentre TM trial designed for young ventilated NMD patients in terms of feasibility, home management of exacerbations and caregivers' burden.<bold>Methods: </bold>The TM trial protocol included patients' weekly scheduled overnight home-recording of SpO2, heart rate and ventilation and their transmission to each TM centre the following morning. Overnight data were reviewed by non-physicians and calls to families made to assess clinical condition. If clinical conditions (assessed by a scoring system) or overnight parameters worsened, either unscheduled transmissions or calls were activated and managed by non-physicians or medical team according to severity. Hospitalisations were compared with those of TM patients prior to TM start and with those of age-disease-severity-matched controls. Scores from the Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI) questionnaire pre- and post-TM were compared.<bold>Results: </bold>Forty-eight patients were enrolled, 30 males, median age 16.4 years (interquartile range (IQR) 8.9-22.1), median ventilation/day 10.5 h (IQR 8-16). Exacerbations in TM patients did not differ (59 versus 53; p = 0.15) from controls. Hospitalisations were significantly reduced in TM patients when compared with those prior to TM (11 versus 24, p = 0.04) and to controls (11 versus 21, p = 0.03). Median hospitalisation length was significantly lower in TM patients than controls (6 versus 7 days, p = 0.03). Caregivers satisfaction was excellent whereas no significant changes in CBI were seen (32.5 versus 35.5, p = 0.06).<bold>Discussion: </bold>TM was effective in improving the home management of respiratory exacerbations in young ventilated NMD patients and overall well tolerated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 1357633X
- Volume :
- 25
- Issue :
- 7
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Journal of Telemedicine & Telecare
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 137592716
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1177/1357633X18778479