SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Cardiovasc. Med.
Sec. Heart Failure and Transplantation
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2025.1612545
This article is part of the Research TopicTransforming Care in Heart Failure and Cardiomyopathies: Emerging Insights and TreatmentsView all 6 articles
Efficacy of Wearable Devices detecting pulmonary congestion in Heart Failure: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Provisionally accepted
- St. James's Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
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Heart failure (HF) hospitalizations are prognostically significant. Implantable hemodynamic monitors detect early congestion but are invasive and costly, with no clear mortality benefit. Wearable devices offer a non-invasive alternative for monitoring congestion. This meta-analysis examines the efficacy of wearable devices in reducing HF hospitalizations and mortality compared to standard care. A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted following PRISMA guidelines. PubMed, EMBASE, MEDLINE, and Cochrane databases were searched for trials comparing wearable deviceguided care with standard HF treatment. Outcomes included hospitalisation for heart failure, worsening heart failure events (hospitalisation or emergency department visit for heart failure) and all-cause mortality. Total (first and recurrent) event meta-analyses were performed using random effect models. Four studies met inclusion criteria, including 958 patients enrolled at the time of hospitalisation for heart failure. Wearable device-guided care resulted in a 41% reduction in hospitalisations for heart failure (RR 0.59, 95% CI 0.41-0.87, p=0.007) and a 40% reduction in heart failure events (RR 0.60, 95%CI 0.42-0.86, p=0.005) compared to standard care. All-cause mortality was reduced by 26% in the wearable monitoring arm (RR 0.74, 95%CI 0.55-0.99, p=0.04). The composite outcome of HF hospitalization and mortality was 37% lower with wearable monitoring (RR 0.63, 95% CI 0.44-0.91, p=0.04). Treatment for heart failure, guided by wearable devices that measure pulmonary congestion, reduced hospitalisations for heart failure and all-cause mortality in recently hospitalised patients. Wearable devices are a promising non-invasive strategy for managing high-risk patients, particularly when transitioning care from acute to community settings.
Keywords: Heart Failure, wearable devices, remote monitoring, Pulmonary congestion, Hospitalisations
Received: 15 Apr 2025; Accepted: 21 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Murray, Kenny, O' Sullivan, Murphy and Curtain. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: James Curtain, St. James's Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
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