Assessing the Efficacy of a Virtual Assistant in the Remote Cardiac Rehabilitation of Heart Failure and Ischemic Heart Disease Patients: Case-Control Study of Romanian Adult Patients

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health · 11 authors, 4 centres

AI SUMMARY

FIDELITY 100%

POPULATIONRomanian adult patients with heart failure (n=30) and ischemic heart disease (n=20) referred for cardiac rehabilitation

INTERVENTIONRemote cardiac rehabilitation via the vCare virtual assistant system (tablet-based digital environment at home)

COMPARISONAmbulatory (center-based) cardiac rehabilitation and no cardiac rehabilitation (control group)

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AGENT 01 · STRUCTURED SUMMARY

TRACE TO SOURCE

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TL;DR

This case-control study evaluated the vCare virtual assistant for remote cardiac rehabilitation in 30 heart failure and 20 ischemic heart disease patients from Romania, comparing an experimental group using the virtual assistant against ambulatory and control groups. Results showed that the virtual assistant group achieved similar exercise capacity improvements to ambulatory rehabilitation and superior outcomes to the control group across cardiovascular risk factors and quality of life. The study is limited by small sample size and restriction to a single tablet-based application.

Full summary

1,391 CHARS

Cardiovascular diseases remain the leading cause of mortality in Europe. Cardiac rehabilitation is a key component of secondary prevention, yet access gaps persist, particularly after hospital discharge. Participants were allocated to an experimental group (virtual assistant), ambulatory group (center-based rehabilitation), or control group (no rehabilitation). Among 20 IHD patients (mean age 58.1 ± 7.12 years; 16 male, 4 female), the experimental group improved VO2max from 16.58 to 20.7 mL/kg/min, while the control group showed a decrease of 1.75 mL/kg/min. Both groups showed LDL-cholesterol improvement, though the control group had a greater decrease from 165.34 to 132.42 mg/dL without reaching target values. Depression improved more in the experimental group than in controls. For HF patients, quality of life improved considerably in both experimental and ambulatory groups per EuroQol-5D, while control group changes were statistically insignificant. The experimental group showed a 15% quality-of-life increase on EQ-VAS among IHD patients. Smoking cessation was also more favorable in the experimental group. The authors concluded that virtual assistant-based cardiac rehabilitation yields results nearly equivalent to classical center-based programs. Key limitations include the small sample size and use of a single tablet-based application without cross-platform support.

PICO

PPOPULATION

Romanian adult patients with heart failure (n=30) and ischemic heart disease (n=20) referred for cardiac rehabilitation

IINTERVENTION

Remote cardiac rehabilitation via the vCare virtual assistant system (tablet-based digital environment at home)

OOUTCOME

Exercise capacity (VO2max), cardiovascular risk factors (LDL-cholesterol, smoking status), anxiety and depression (HAD scale), and quality of life (EuroQol-5D, EQ-VAS)

STUDY TYPE

case-control

SPECIALTY

cardiology

SUMMARISED BY

AI pipeline

FIDELITY CHECK

100% · A

ORIGINAL PAPER

PMC10002163

Assessing the Efficacy of a Virtual Assistant in the Remote Cardiac Rehabilitation of Heart Failure and Ischemic Heart Disease Patients: Case-Control Study of Romanian Adult Patients

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

READ THE FULL PAPER

ABSTRACT

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of mortality in Europe, with potentially more than 60 million deaths per year, with an age-standardized rate of morbidity-mortality higher in men than women, exceeding deaths from cancer. Heart attacks and strokes account for more than four out of every five CVD fatalities globally. After a patient overcomes an acute cardiovascular event, they are referred for rehabilitation to help them to restore most of their normal cardiac functions. One effective way to provide this activity regimen is via virtual models or telerehabilitation, where the patient can avail themselves of the rehabilitation services from the comfort of their homes at designated timings. Under the funding of the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation program, grant no 769807, a virtual rehabilitation assistant has been designed for elderly patients (vCare), with the overall objective of supporting recovery and an active life at home, enhancing patients’ quality of life, lowering disease-specific risk factors, and ensuring better adherence to a home rehabilitation program. In the vCare project, the Carol Davila University of Bucharest (UMFCD) was in charge of the heart failure (HF) and ischemic heart disease (IHD) groups of patients. By creating a digital environment at patients’ homes, the vCare system’s effectiveness, use, and feasibility was evaluated. A total of 30 heart failure patients and 20 ischemic heart disease patients were included in the study. Despite the COVID-19 restrictions and a few technical difficulties, HF and IHD patients who performed cardiac rehabilitation using the vCare system had similar results compared to the ambulatory group, and better results compared to the control group.

CITATION EXPORT

Andreea-Elena Lăcraru, Ștefan-Sebastian Busnatu, Maria-Alexandra Pană et al.. Assessing the Efficacy of a Virtual Assistant in the Remote Cardiac Rehabilitation of Heart Failure and Ischemic Heart Disease Patients: Case-Control Study of Romanian Adult Patients. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. (2023). https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20053937

AUTHORS

11 · 4 CENTRES

Andreea-Elena Lăcraru, Ștefan-Sebastian Busnatu, Maria-Alexandra Pană, Gabriel Olteanu, Liviu Șerbănoiu, Kai Gand, Hannes Schlieter, Sofoklis Kyriazakos, Octavian Ceban, Cătălina Liliana Andrei, Crina-Julieta Sinescu

1Department of Cardiology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy “Carol Davila”, Emergency Hospital “Bagdasar-Arseni”, 050474 Bucharest, Romania
2Research Group Digital Health, Faculty of Business and Economics, Technische Universitat Dresden, 01062 Dresden, Germany
3Department of Business Development and Technology, Aarhus University, 7400 Aarhus, Denmark
4Economic Cybernetics and Informatics Department, University of Economic Studies, 010374 Bucharest, Romania

EDITOR / REVIEWER

Paul B. Tchounwou