Effects of home-based cardiac exercise rehabilitation with remote electrocardiogram monitoring in patients with chronic heart failure: a study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

Introduction Patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) can benefit from exercise rehabilitation (ER) with significant improvements in exercise capacity, quality of life and reduction in hospitalisations. Despite its reported benefits, only a small number of patients with CHF attend ER due to poor adherence, and improper exercise may even lead to adverse events. Remote ECG monitoring system (REMS) has the potential to overcome these obstacles. We hypothesise that home-based cardiac ER using REMS in CHF patients is effective compared with conventional ER without monitoring. Methods and analysis This study is a prospective, randomised, parallel controlled clinical trial designed to evaluate the effectiveness of home-based phase-II ER with REMS in the treatment of CHF with a target enrolment of 120 patients (left ventricular ejection fraction 2 peak) (baseline vs 3 m). Secondary outcomes include 6-min walk test, NYHA classes, echocardiographic parameters, cardiac biomarkers, major adverse cardiovascular events, quality of life, psychological well-being and patients’ adherence to the rehabilitation programme. Ethics and dissemination This study was approved by Ethics Committee of China-Japan Friendship Hospital for Clinical Research (No. 2018–55 K39). The results of this study will be disseminated via peer-reviewed publications and presentations at conferences. Trial registration number ChiCTR-RNR-17012446; Pre-results.