BACKGROUND: Telerehabilitation in cardiology has the potential to become the alternative to regular outpatient cardiac rehabilitation. Our study focuses on the wrist heart rate monitor as a telerehabilitation device, defines detected limitations, and compares results between home-based and regular outpatient rehabilitation methods, related to physical fitness, quality of life, and training adherence. The study design was a randomized controlled trial. METHODS: Eligible 56 cardiac rehabilitation patients were randomized into a 12-week regular outpatient training group (ROT) and interventional home-based telerehabilitation group (ITG). For both groups, the intensity of the training was prescribed to be performed at 70% to 80% of heart rate reserve for 60 minutes, 3 times a week. The ITG patients started their training with a wrist heart rate monitor in their home environment. These patients received feedback once a week, reflecting data uploaded on the internet application. The ROT patients performed their exercise under the direct supervision of a physical specialist in a regular outpatient clinic. Physical fitness and health-related quality of life were assessed at baseline and after 12 weeks. Training adherence in both groups was determined and compared. RESULTS: Fifty-one patients completed the intervention (91%); no serious adverse events were recorded. Physical fitness expressed as peak oxygen uptake showed significant improvement (p < 0.001) in ROT group from 23.4 +/- 3.3 to 25.9 +/- 4.1 mL/kg/min and (p < 0.01) in ITG group from 23.7 +/- 4.1 to 26.5 +/- 5.7 mL/kg/min without significant between-group differences after 12 weeks of intervention. The training adherence between groups was similar. CONCLUSION: Our study shows that telerehabilitation via wrist heart rate monitor could become an alternative kind of cardiac rehabilitation which deserves attention and further analyzing.

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