1. Telephone Health Coaching and Remote Exercise Monitoring (TeGeCoach) in Peripheral Arterial Occlusive Disease.
- Author
-
Rezvani F, Heider D, König HH, Herbarth L, Steinisch P, Schuhmann F, Böbinger H, Krack G, Korth T, Thomsen L, Chase DP, Schreiber R, Alscher MD, Finger B, Härter M, and Dirmaier J
- Subjects
- Humans, Male, Female, Aged, Middle Aged, Germany, Telephone, Mentoring methods, Treatment Outcome, Intermittent Claudication therapy, Intermittent Claudication physiopathology, Quality of Life, Arterial Occlusive Diseases therapy, Arterial Occlusive Diseases physiopathology, Exercise Therapy methods, Peripheral Arterial Disease therapy, Peripheral Arterial Disease physiopathology, Peripheral Arterial Disease diagnosis
- Abstract
Background: Supervised exercise programs are used to treat intermittent claudication (IC). Home-based exercise programs have been developed to lower barriers to participation. We studied the effects of one such exercise program (TeGeCoach) on self-reported walking ability in patients with IC., Methods: In a pragmatic multicenter randomized controlled trial (registration number NCT03496948), 1982 patients with symp - tomatic IC insured by one of three German statutory health insurance funds received either telephone health coaching with remote exercise monitoring (TeGeCoach; n = 994) or routine care (n = 988). The primary outcome was the change in Walking Impairment Questionnaire (WIQ) scores after 12 and 24 months in the intention-to-treat population. The secondary outcomes were healthrelated quality of life, symptoms of depression or anxiety, health competence, patient activation, alcohol use, and nicotine depen - dence., Results: There was a significant group difference in WIQ score in favor of TeGeCoach (p < 0.0001), amounting to 6.30 points at 12 months (Bonferroni-corrected 95% CI [4.02; 8.59], Cohen's d = 0.26) and 4.55 points at 24 months ([2.20; 6.91], d = 0.19). Some of the secondary outcomes also showed positive results in favor of TeGeCoach at 12 months with small effect sizes (d ≥ 0.20), including physical health-related quality of life and patient activation. The average daily step count was not higher in the TeGeCoach group., Conclusion: Significant improvements regarding symptom burden demonstrate the benefit of a home-based exercise program and thus expand the opportunities for guideline-oriented treatment of IC. Future studies should additionally address the effect of home-based exercise programs on clinical variables by means of, for example, the 6-minute walk test.
- Published
- 2024
- Full Text
- View/download PDF