Factors that influence use of a home cardiorespiratory monitor for infants: the collaborative home infant monitoring evaluation.

Background: As part of the Collaborative Home Infant Monitoring Evaluation, a home monitor was developed to record breathing, heart rate, other physiologic variables, and the time the monitor was used.
Objective: To determine the frequency of monitor use, factors that influence use, and validity of a model developed to predict use.
Design: We developed a model to predict monitor use using multiple linear regression analysis; we then tested the validity of this model to predict adherence for the first week of monitoring and for the subsequent 4-week period (weeks 2-5).
Setting: Clinical research centers in Chicago, Ill; Cleveland, Ohio; Honolulu, Hawaii; Los Angeles, Calif; and Toledo, Ohio. Patients Preterm infants, infants younger than 1 month with a history of autopsy-confirmed sudden infant death syndrome in a sibling, and infants with an idiopathic apparent life-threatening event were divided into 2 cohorts based on enrollment date. Main Outcome Measure Mean hours of monitor use per week.
Results: In cohort 1, the variables available before monitoring were only weakly associated with total hours of monitor use in weeks 2 to 5 (total model r(2) = 0.08). However, when hours of monitor use in week 1 were included as a variable to predict monitor use in weeks 2 to 5, the r(2) increased to 0.64 for hours of monitor use per week.
Conclusions: Our data show that monitor use in the first week was the most important variable for predicting subsequent monitor use. The study suggests that a major focus of home monitoring should be adherence in the first week, although it remains to be tested whether this adherence can be altered.