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.
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