Heart failure: telemedicine extends life
Lisa Vogel studied departmental journalism with a focus on medicine and biosciences at Ansbach University and deepened her journalistic knowledge in the master's degree in multimedia information and communication. This was followed by a traineeship in the editorial team. Since September 2020 she has been writing as a freelance journalist for
More posts by Lisa Vogel All content is checked by medical journalists.If you monitor your sick heart better at home, you will spend less time in the hospital. This was the result of a study by the Berlin Charité. Heart failure patients were equipped with tablets, scales, EKG machines and blood pressure monitors that were connected to the Internet. Doctors were able to react quickly to any deterioration in the values in a special telemedicine center.
A total of 1538 patients with chronic heart failure (heart failure) grade NYHA 2 and 3 participated in the study. Half of them received telemedicine care. The other half of the study participants served as a control group and were treated according to conventional standards.
The result spoke for the value of telemedical care: on average, the patients in this group visited the hospital for 17.8 days within the one-year study period due to heart problems or complications. The control group had 24.2 hospital days. The telemedicine patients were admitted by their family doctor for 3.8 days, the patients in the control group for 5.6 days.
Less deaths
Mortality also decreased thanks to telemedicine monitoring: While 11 people per 100 participants died within this one year in the control group, it was only 8 in the telemedicine group can reduce ”, is how Prof. Friedrich Köhler, head of the Center for Cardiovascular Telemedicine, summarizes the figures.
Every day, the patients in the telemedicine group sent the values via a tablet to the telemedicine center, which was staffed around the clock. Weight, oxygen saturation in the blood, blood pressure, but also feedback on the general state of health and wellbeing were important. The experts in the clinic were able to adjust the medication if necessary or recommend a doctor's visit.
Family doctor plus telemedicine the best solution
In addition, all data was saved on an electronic patient card and could be viewed at any time by the family doctor and the telemedicine center. At the push of a button, it was possible for the attending general practitioners to contact a specialist in the clinic.
The close care of the patient and the support of the doctors on site with telemedical possibilities is the reason for the success, according to Prof. Friedrich Köhler. "Family doctor plus telemedicine is better than the family doctor alone."
Widespread disease of heart failure
With heart failure, the heart is no longer able to supply the body with sufficient oxygen. Difficulty breathing occurs, initially under stress, and later also when the body is at rest. Most heart failure occurs as a result of poor oxygen supply to the heart muscle due to arteriosclerosis. Elderly people in particular suffer from a weak heart. In the age group of 70 to 80 year olds, up to 20 percent are affected. In 2015, heart failure was the third leading cause of death in Germany: 47,414 patients died as a result of this disease.
Tags: teenager home remedies menopause
