Table 4.

Interventions’ effectiveness.

Intervention category	Types of interventions	Examples of interventions	Reviews mapped to this category	Statements of effectiveness
Telemonitoring	14 SRsa examined the effect of telemedicine including telemonitoring and home telehealth. Among these, there were 4 reviews that also investigated the effect of structured telephone support.	Telephone-based symptom monitoring, automated monitoring of signs and symptoms, automated physiological monitoring (such as body weight, heart rate, arterial blood pressure, ECGb recordings), and other data.	[8,9,11-13,16-21,23,24,26]	There is sufficient evidence that telemonitoring interventions have an effect on clinical outcomes of HFc including a reduction in mortality, HF hospitalization, and all-cause hospitalization and improvement in QOLd.
Video monitoring	One SR covering 3 RCTse that implemented videoconferencing as main intervention and compared it with usual care or telephone support.	Monitoring patients’ body weight, blood pressure, heart rate, and/or ECG. Some systems also included consultations.	[8]	There is not enough evidence to support conclusions about the effect of video monitoring on HF outcomes as the number of trials is small.
Mobile phone monitoring	Two SRs including 1 RCT and 1 pre-post study examined mobile phone–based interventions.	Monitoring body weight, blood pressure, heart rate, or ECG. Patient consultation.	[10,23]	Based on this review, there is insufficient evidence to determine the effect of mobile phone–based monitoring on HF clinical outcomes.
PDA devices	One SR of 11 RCTs investigated the effect of PDA devices. The devices used in those RCTs were varied.	Monitoring body weight, blood pressure, heart rate, or ECG. Patient consultation.	[10]	There is some evidence that the use of PDA devices is effective in reducing HF mortality. There is not enough evidence to make decisions about the effect of PDA interventions on the other clinical outcomes of HF.
Home telehealth	Four SRs investigated the effect of home telehealth on the clinical outcomes of HF.	Monitoring vital signs and/or ECG, individualized education, medication reminder.	[14,15,22,25]	Based on the results of this review there is some level of evidence from trials that home telehealth has an effect on HF clinical outcomes such as mortality, health care utilization, and QOL.

^aSR: systematic review.

^bECG: electrocardiogram.

^cHF: heart failure.

^dQOL: quality of life.

^eRCT: randomized controlled trial.