Table 1.
Participant baseline characteristics. P values for differences have been evaluated by Student’s t-test for continuous variables and Pearson’s X2 test for binary and multinomial variables
| Study population | Telehealthcare solution | Control group | Raw between-group difference | P value for difference |
| No of patients, n (%) | 134 (49 %) | 140 (51 %) | ||
| Age, mean (SD), y* | 67.21 (11.51) | 67.30 (11.78) | −0.09 | 0.95 |
| Sex, female, %* | 18.91 (n=24) | 20.71 (n=29) | −1.8 | 0.56 |
| Relationship status | 0.14 | |||
| Missing, % | 1.49 (n=2) | 0.71 (n=1) | ||
| Living with somebody, % | 75.76 (n=100) | 67.63 (n=94) | 8.13 | |
| Living alone, % | 24.24 (n=32) | 32.37 (n=45) | −8.13 | |
| Education | 0.67 | |||
| Missing, % | 2.23 (n=3) | 1.43 (n=2) | ||
| Primary (<3 years), % | 65.65 (n=86) | 68.12 (n=94) | −2.47 | |
| Secondary (>3 years), % | 34.35 (n=45) | 31.88 (n=44) | 2.47 | |
| Smoking, (yes)* % | 23.31 (n=31) | 17.14 (n=24) | 6.17 | 0.20 |
| Self-reported duration of HF | ||||
| Missing, % | 5.97 (n=8) | 6.43 (n=9) | ||
| Mean (SD), y | 5.27 (7.45) | 5.47 (7.13) | −0.20 | 0.82 |
| Median, y | 2 | 2 | 0 | |
| NYHA score at baseline, mean (SD) | 2.55 (0.69) | 2.50 (0.61) | 0.05 | 0.53 |
| Missing, % | 4.48 (n=6) | 5.00 (n=7) | ||
| NYHA class II, % | 56.25 (n=72) | 56.39 (n=75) | −0.14 | |
| NYHA class III, % | 32.81 (n=42) | 37.59 (n=50) | −5.41 | |
| NYHA class IV, % | 10.94 (n=14) | 6.02 (n=8) | 4.92 | |
| Self-reported comorbidity, %* | 41.04 (n=55) | 41.43 (n=58) | −0.39 | 0.95 |
| Diabetes, % | 13.43 (n=18) | 19.29 (n=27) | −5.86 | 0.19 |
| COPD, % | 16.42 (n=22) | 15.71 (n=22) | 0.71 | 0.87 |
| Psychological disorder, % | 2.24 (n=3) | 2.14 (n=3) | 0.10 | 0.96 |
| Musculoskeletal disorder, % | 16.42 (n=22) | 15.71 (n=22) | 0.71 | 0.87 |
| Cancer, % | 6.72 (n=9) | 7.14 (n=10) | −0.42 | 0.89 |
| Baseline EQ-5D-3L index score, mean (SD) | 0.7073 (0.1514) | 0.7078 (0.1465) | 0 | 0.98 |
| Missing, % | 5.22 (n=7) | 0.7 (n=1) | ||
| Baseline historical costs excluding municipality costs (£), mean (SD)* | 18 587.52 (21 605.38) | 19 560.00 (23 491.52) | −972.48 | 0.72 |
| Baseline historical municipality costs (£), mean (SD) | 122.24 (303.18) | 479.88 (1585.97) | −357.64 | 0.07 |
| Missing, % | 49.25 (n=66) | 50.71 (n=71) |
*Variable has no missing values.
£, British Pounds Sterling; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; EQ-5D-3L, EuroQol 5-Dimensions 3-Levels; HF, heart failure; NYHA, New York Heart Association.