Short-term outcome associated with remote evaluation (telecardiology) of patients with cardiovascular diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19's immuno-pathology and cardiovascular diseases

The pandemic of COVID-19 in worldwide causes recent millions of morbidity and mortality in all countries and is the most important challenge in the world in recent years. Coronavirus is a single-stranded RNA virus and infection with COVID-19 leads to acute respiratory distress syndrome, lung inflammation, cytokine storm, and death. The other complications include endothelial dysfunction, activation of coagulation, thromboembolic events, and vascular disease. Cardiovascular complications such as myocardial and stroke ischemia, pulmonary thromboembolism, systemic arterial, and deep vein thrombosis were reported. In this review, we presented immuno-pathological mechanisms and the effects of COVID-19 on the cardiovascular system, heart, vessels, coagulation system, and molecular glance of immuno-inflammation to the COVID-19's pathology on the cardiovascular system.

The worldwide impact of telemedicine during COVID-19: current evidence and recommendations for the future

During the COVID-19 pandemic, telemedicine has emerged worldwide as an indispensable resource to improve the surveillance of patients, curb the spread of disease, facilitate timely identification and management of ill people, but, most importantly, guarantee the continuity of care of frail patients with multiple chronic diseases. Although during COVID-19 telemedicine has thrived, and its adoption has moved forward in many countries, important gaps still remain. Major issues to be addressed to enable large scale implementation of telemedicine include: (1) establishing adequate policies to legislate telemedicine, license healthcare operators, protect patients' privacy, and implement reimbursement plans; (2) creating and disseminating practical guidelines for the routine clinical use of telemedicine in different contexts; (3) increasing in the level of integration of telemedicine with traditional healthcare services; (4) improving healthcare professionals' and patients' awareness of and willingness to use telemedicine; and (5) overcoming inequalities among countries and population subgroups due to technological, infrastructural, and economic barriers. If all these requirements are met in the near future, remote management of patients will become an indispensable resource for the healthcare systems worldwide and will ultimately improve the management of patients and the quality of care.

Telehealth at scale can improve chronic disease management in the community during a pandemic: An experience at the time of COVID-19

Background

During the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth became a vital resource to contain the virus’s spread and ensure continuity of care of patients with a chronic condition, notably arterial hypertension and heart disease. This paper reports the experience based on a telehealth platform used at scale to manage chronic disease patients in the Italian community.

Methods and findings

Patients’ health status was remotely monitored through ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM), resting or ambulatory electrocardiogram (ECG), spirometry, sleep oximetry, and cardiorespiratory polysomnography performed in community pharmacies or general practitioners’ offices. Patients also monitored their blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), blood oxygen saturation (SpO₂), body temperature, body weight, waist circumference, blood glucose, and lipids at home through a dedicated smartphone app. All data conveyed to the web-based telehealth platform were used to manage critical patients by doctors promptly. Data were analyzed and compared across three consecutive periods of 2 months each: i) before the national lockdown, ii) during the lockdown (from March 9 to May 17, 2020), and iii) after the end of the containment measures. Overall, 13,613 patients visited community pharmacies or doctors’ offices. The number of overall tests dropped during and rose after the lockdown. The overall proportion of abnormal tests was larger during the outbreak. A significant increase in the prevalence of abnormal ECGs due to myocardial ischemia, contrasted by a significantly improved BP control, was observed. The number of home users and readings exchanged increased during the pandemic. In 226 patients, a significant increase in the proportion of SpO₂ readings and a significant reduction in the entries for all other parameters, except BP, was observed. The proportion of abnormal SpO₂ and BP values was significantly lower during the lockdown. Following the lockdown, the proportion of abnormal body weight or waist circumference values increased.

Conclusions

Our study results support the usefulness of a telehealth solution to detect deterioration of the health status during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Trial registration

The study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov at number NCT03781401.

Enabling teleophthalmology during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Province of Trento, Italy: Design and implementation of a mHealth solution

BACKGROUND

Due to the many restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 emergency, the normal clinical activities have been stopped abruptly in view of limiting the circulation of the virus. The extraordinary containment measures have had a dramatic impact on the undertaking and follow-up of ophthalmic outpatients.

OBJECTIVE

In order to guarantee proper monitoring and routine care, the Pediatric Ophthalmology equipe of Rovereto Hospital (North-East of Italy) supported by the Competence Center on Digital Health TrentinoSalute4.0, designed and implemented a digital platform, TreC Oculistica, enabling teleophthalmology. We report our innovative-albeit restricted-experience aiming at testing and maximizing the efficacy of remote ophthalmic and orthoptic visits.

METHODS

A multidisciplinary team created the TreC Oculistica platform and defined a teleophthalmology protocol. The system consists of a clinician web interface and a patient mobile application. Clinicians can prescribe outpatients with the App and some preliminary measurements to be self-collected before the televisit. The App conveys the clinician's requests (i.e. measurements) and eases the share of the collected information in a secure digital environment, promoting a new health care workflow.

RESULTS

Four clinicians took part in the testing phase (2 ophthalmologists and 2 orthoptists) and recruited 37 patients (mostly pediatric) in 3 months. Thanks to a continuous feedback between the testing and the technical implementation, it has been possible to identify pros and cons of the implemented functionalities, considering possible improvements. Digital solutions such as TreC Oculistica advance the digitalization of the Italian health care system, promoting a structured and effective reorganization of the workload supported by digital systems.

CONCLUSIONS

The study tested an innovative digital solution in the teleophthalmology context and represented the first experience within the Italian healthcare system. This solution opens up new possibilities and scenarios that can be effective not only during the pandemic, but also in the traditional management of public health services.

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Remote Monitoring of Cardiac Implantable Electronic Devices in Italy: Results of a Survey Promoted by AIAC (Italian Association of Arrhythmology and Cardiac Pacing)

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the organisation of health care in Italy, with an acceleration in the development of telemedicine. To assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the spread of remote monitoring (RM) of cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) in Italy, a survey addressed to cardiologists operating in all Italian CIED-implanting centres was launched. A total of 127 cardiologists from 116 Italian arrhythmia centres took part in the survey, 41.0% of all 283 CIED-implanting centres operating in Italy in 2019. All participating centres declared to use RM of CIEDs. COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an increase in the use of RM in 83 (71.6%) participating centres. In a temporal perspective, an increase in the median number of patients per centre followed up by RM was found from 2012 to 2017, followed by an exponential increase from 2017 to 2020. In 36 participating centres (31.0%) a telehealth visits service was activated as a replacement for in-person outpatient visits (in patients with or without CIED) during the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 pandemic has caused an acceleration in the use of RM of CIEDs and in the use of telemedicine in the clinical practice of cardiology.

Feasibility of Telephone-Based Cardiology Consultation: Comparison of Resource Use and Outcomes vs In-Person Consultation

Introduction:

The COVID-19 (Coronavirus infectious disease 2019) pandemic has highlighted the need for alternative modalities to connect with outpatients beyond in-person clinic visits. In the present study, we evaluated the feasibility of a telephone-based teleconsultation cardiology service and compared the use of testing and outcomes between teleconsultation and traditional in-office consultations

Methods:

The study took place prior to the COVID-19 pandemic July 2019 to March 2020. Consult lists were reviewed by a cardiologist for patients appropriate for teleconsultation. Those patients were contacted directly and, if agreeable, a consultation was completed and any required testing was arranged. A series of patients seen in the clinic, matched for a reason for consultation and consulting a cardiologist, were compared in terms of testing frequency and outcomes.

Results:

Of 157 patients who felt appropriate for teleconsultation, 100 (63.7%) were successfully contacted and a teleconsultation was completed. Comparing patients undergoing teleconsultation with a matched series of patients seen in person in the clinic, there were no significant differences in testing utilization or outcomes, including emergency room or hospital admission within 30 days of consultation or death or adverse cardiac events at six months following consultation.

Conclusion:

Telemedicine can be successfully utilized as an alternative to traditional clinic consultation for selected patients needing cardiology consultation. This consultative modality does not appear to lead to utilization of increased testing or decreased quality or patient outcomes. Larger studies are needed to assess this mode of consultation.

Implementation of tele visit healthcare services triggered by the COVID-19 emergency: the Trentino Province experience

Aim

In response to the SARS-CoV-2 emergency, the Competence Centre on digital health ‘TrentinoSalute4.0’ has developed TreC_Televisita, a tele visit solution that meets the needs of the Trentino healthcare system and maintains high-quality patient–doctor interactions while respecting social distancing. This paper highlights how ‘TreC_Televisita’ was integrated into the Trentino healthcare system and its potential to become a structural and durable solution for the future local healthcare service provisioning.

Subject and methods

This paper presents the multifactorial context that TreC_Televisita has faced for its implementation and the strategies adopted for its structural integration into the healthcare system. The analysis focuses on the main issues faced for the integration of the tele visits (e.g. privacy, payments) and how the context of TrentinoSalute4.0 permitted responding quickly to its implementation during the pandemic. It also describes how TreC_Televisita fits into the healthcare continuum from the organisational and technological standpoint, the end-user perspective and the barriers that could hamper the solution scalability.

Results

TreC_Televisita has demonstrated to be a technological solution that can be contextualised for different clinical domains beyond SARS-CoV-2. Moreover, it has shown its potential to scale up the solution beyond the COVID-19 emergency to the whole healthcare provisioning system in the long term.

Conclusion

Being a positive experience in the first months of its implementation, the long-term goal is to transform TreC_Televisita into a structural pillar of the Trentino healthcare system, setting the bases for a sustainable, win–win situation for all the stakeholders involved in healthcare service provisioning.

Nursing Teleconsultation for the Outpatient Management of Patients with Cardiovascular Disease during COVID-19 Pandemic

Introduction: During the COVID-19 outbreak, non-urgent clinic visits or cardiac interventional procedures were postponed to a later date, and the implementation of telemedicine has guaranteed continuity of care for patients with chronic diseases. The aim of our study was to describe the medical interventions following nursing teleconsultation for the outpatient management of patients with cardiovascular diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods: All patients who did not attend the follow-up visit from 4 to 15 April 2020 at our institution and who were re-scheduled due to the COVID-19 lockdown were selected to be enrolled in the study. Each patient was followed by a semi-structured telephonic interview performed by a nurse. The outcomes of our study were to assess the patients' adherence to nursing teleconsultation and the usefulness of nursing teleconsultation to detect clinical conditions in need of medical intervention. Results: In total, 203 patients (81%) underwent nursing teleconsultation in a mean time of 7 ± 3 days from the outpatient visit lost due to the COVID-19 lockdown. Furthermore, 53 patients (26%) showed poor adherence to nursing teleconsultation. Among the 150 patients (mean age 67 ± 10 years; 68% male) who completed the telephonic interview, the nursing teleconsultation revealed the need of medical intervention in 69 patients (46%), who were more likely at very high cardiovascular risk (77% vs. 48%; p < 0.0003) and who showed a higher prevalence of dyslipidemia (97% vs. 64%; p < 0.0001) and coronary artery disease (75% vs. 48%, p < 0.0008) compared to those not in need of any intervention. The up-titration of the lipid-lowering drugs (n: 32, 74%) was the most frequent medical intervention following the nursing teleconsultation. The mean time between the nursing teleconsultation and the date of the rescheduled in-person follow-up visit was 164 ± 36 days. Conclusions: Nursing teleconsultation is a simple and well-tolerated strategy that ensures the continuity of care and outpatient management for patients with cardiovascular diseases during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on patterns of outpatient cardiovascular care

Background

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic brought about abrupt changes in the way health care is delivered, and the impact of transitioning outpatient clinic visits to telehealth visits on processes of care and outcomes is unclear.

Methods

We evaluated ordering patterns during cardiovascular telehealth clinic visits in the Duke University Health System between March 15 and June 30, 2020 and 30-day outcomes compared with in-person visits in the same time frame in 2020 and in 2019.

Results

Within the Duke University Health System, there was a 33.1% decrease in the number of outpatient cardiovascular visits conducted in the first 15 weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic, compared with the same time period in 2019. As a proportion of total visits initially booked, 53% of visits were cancelled in 2020 compared to 35% in 2019. However, patients with cancelled visits had similar demographics and comorbidities in 2019 and 2020. Telehealth visits comprised 9.3% of total visits initially booked in 2020, with younger and healthier patients utilizing telehealth compared with those utilizing in-person visits. Compared with in-person visits in 2020, telehealth visits were associated with fewer new (31.6% for telehealth vs 44.6% for in person) or refill (12.9% vs 15.6%, respectively) medication prescriptions, electrocardiograms (4.3% vs 31.4%), laboratory orders (5.9% vs 21.8%), echocardiograms (7.3% vs 98%), and stress tests (4.4% vs 6.6%). When adjusted for age, race, and insurance status, those who had a telehealth visit or cancelled their visit were less likely to have an emergency department or hospital encounter within 30 days compared with those who had in-person visits (adjusted rate ratios (aRR) 0.76 [95% 0.65, 0.89] and aRR 0.71 [95% 0.65, 0.78], respectively).

Conclusions

In response to the perceived risks of routine medical care affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, different phenotypes of patients chose different types of outpatient cardiology care. A better understanding of these differences could help define necessary and appropriate mode of care for cardiology patients.