BACKGROUND/RATIONALE:
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the most common chronic illnesses among veterans in the adult population, and accounts for substantial morbidity and mortality in this population. Interventions that enhance symptom self-monitoring and increase understanding of COPD therapy may lead to earlier detection of clinical deterioration permitting more timely intervention by health care providers. However, such interventions are labor-intensive and expensive, and typically require patients to go to a medical facility on a regular basis. A novel means of providing such interventions is a Telephone-Linked Computer (TLC) system, a computer-based telecommunications system that can monitor, educate, and counsel patients through regular automated conversations in patients’ homes. In previous studies, we have demonstrated the applicability of TLC technology in the clinical monitoring of adults with chronic disease conditions such as hypertension and hypercholesterolemia.

OBJECTIVE(S):
The objectives of the study were to determine whether a telecommunications system for COPD care (TLC-COPD) leads to improvements in functional status and quality of life (QOL) as well as to reductions in health care utilization and costs exceeding the TLC intervention.

METHODS:
The study was designed in the form of a randomized controlled trial involving subjects with COPD who receive care at two Boston-area VA hospitals. Subjects were assigned to either TLC-COPD or a usual care control group.

FINDINGS/RESULTS:
The TLC-COPD intervention resulted in improvements in QOL and functional status. Improvements in each of four QOL domains were observed in the intervention group as compared to negative changes for all these domains in the control group. Definite improvement was also seen in two functional status components in the intervention group whereas both of these components worsened in the control group.

IMPACT:
These data suggest that the TLC-COPD approach, which is relatively inexpensive to operationalize, could be effectively utilized in the clinical management of patients with COPD in the VA system where this disease is very highly prevalent.

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External Links for this Project

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PUBLICATIONS:

None at this time.

DRA: Health Systems Science
DRE: Epidemiology, Treatment - Observational
Keywords: Chronic lung disease, Telemedicine
MeSH Terms: Telemedicine