Is there any additional effect of tele-assistance on long-term care programmes in hypercapnic copd patients? A retrospective study

The evidence for tele-assistance (TA) in hypercapnic chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients on long-term oxygen therapy (LTOT) is scarce. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of addition of long-term TA to LTOT with or without non-invasive ventilation (NIV) in these patients. Retrospective analysis of a previous randomised study of patients on LTOT. According to the care programme patients were divided into Group 1: LTOT; Group 2: LTOT + NIV; Group 3: LTOT + TA and Group 4: LTOT + NIV + TA. Primary outcomes: time to first exacerbation and hospitalisation during 12 months of long-term care. Risk of exacerbation was statistically different among groups (p = 0.0002). TA addition to NIV significantly reduced exacerbation risk when compared with that to all groups. Hospitalisation risk was statistically different among groups (p = 0.049). Addition of TA to LTOT but not to NIV significantly reduced hospitalisation risk when compared to Group 1 (p = 0.013). Risk of mortality did not differ among groups (p = 0.074). In chronically hypercapnic COPD patients on LTOT, 1. TA alone and with greater efficacy when combined with NIV may reduce the frequency of exacerbations and 2. TA added to LTOT, but not to NIV, may reduce the frequency of hospitalisations.