Background

Telemonitoring of home non-invasive ventilation (NIV) therapy is a long-term management option for stable COPD patients.

Objectives

The aim is to compare the healthcare utilization, readmission or death between patients with home NIV telemonitoring and those receiving standard care at 3 and 12 months after hospitalization due to COPD exacerbation.??

Methods

A retrospective case-control cohort study conducted in the medical department of North District Hospital, Hong Kong. Participants were stable hypercapnic COPD patients who received home NIV telemonitoring (n=94) and those who did not (n=32) between 1 January 2014 and 31 December 2021. Outcomes were time to readmission, frequency of Accident and Emergency Department (AED) visit and occupied bed days, which were retrieved from electronic medical records.

Results

A total of 126 patients were included, 73% male and mean age 80 years. Mean time to readmission was significantly longer from NIV cohort as compared with standard care cohort by 10.7 days (p=0.05) at 3-month and by 54.3 days (p=0.01) at 12-month. Mean occupied bed was significantly shortened from NIV cohort as compared with standard care cohort by 16.2 days (p=0.01) at 12-month. Mean AED visits was significantly less from NIV cohort as compared with standard care cohort by 1.5 times (p<0.001) at 3-month and by 3.7 times (p<0.001) at 12-month.

Conclusions

Home NIV with telemonitoring was effective in reducing AED attendance, prolonging time to readmission in the short and long-term,while, the effect on shortening occupied bed days was only seen in the long-term.