Effects of Home-Based Exercise Training for Adults With Multimorbidity: Application of Telehealth Care

Monday, 18 November 2019

Chia-Huei Lin, PhD, RN
Nursing department; School of Nursing and School of Medicine, Department of Nursing, Tri-Service General Hospital Songshan Branch; School of Nursing and School of Medicine, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan
Shang-Lin Chiang, PhD, MD
Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Tri-Service General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan

Background: Wearable technology in physical medicine and rehabilitation has emerged in recent years. However, little is known about the effects of home-based exercise training via telehealth care combined with heart rate sensing clothes. Objectives: To evaluate the reliability and validity of heart rate measurements in a novel exercise heart rate sensing clothes, and to investigate the effects of home-based exercise training via telehealth care combined with heart rate sensing clothes in adults with multimorbidity.

Research design and method: Sixty eligible adults aged over 40 years with multimorbidity were recruited and randomized into either experimental group (EG, received a 12-week home-based exercise training through telehealth care combined with heart rate sensing clothes) or control group (CG, received a usual care). The telehealth care involved a home-based exercise couch mobile app containing alarm system and auto-feedback function developed for formulating individual exercise prescription. The internal reliability of the heart rate measurement was evaluated by intraclass correlation coefficients. Generalized estimating equation was used to assess the outcome effects including cardiorespiratory fitness, physical activity amounts and quality of life. Results: The device of heart rate measurements with good reliabilities (0.99 for resting, 0.93 for warm-up, 0.97 for training, and 0.987 for cool-down phase) were linearly correlated with the criterion standards (r = 0.99). Participants in the EG had higher cardiorespiratory fitness, pulmonary function, maximum heart rate than those in the CG. In addition, the EG had increased physical activity amounts (i.e., weekly walking, moderate-intensity, and vigorous-intensity physical activity) and improved quality of life as compared to the CG after intervention. Conclusions: The heart rate sensing clothes with a well-valid and reliable heart rate monitor device incorporated into telehealth care can be applied to home-based exercise training, which presents effective improvement in cardiorespiratory fitness, physical activity amounts, and quality of life among patients with multimorbidity.