Infection, rejection, and hospitalizations in transplant recipients using telehealth.

CONTEXT: Telehealth technology serves individuals who live in geographical areas that prohibit easy access to specialized health care and can provide transplant recipients with access to transplant center personnel for adjunctive follow-up care. OBJECTIVE: To compare infection, rejection, and hospitalization events in subjects randomized to telehealth or to standard posttransplant care. STUDY DESIGN, STUDY PARTICIPANTS, SETTING AND RESEARCH PROCEDURE: This longitudinal prospective study compared transplant outcomes (infections, rejections, and hospitalizations) of 106 subjects who were randomized to either the telehealth (n = 53) or standard care (n = 53) group and met the 6-month study end point. Sex, race, and transplant type were evenly distributed within the 2 groups. Subjects received primary follow-up care from nurse practitioners. The telehealth visits were conducted via live interactive sessions with digitized equipment used to perform physical examinations. MAIN OUTCOMES: Infections, rejections, and hospitalizations were summarized for each of the groups. Subgroup analyses were performed by sex, transplant type, and time since transplant. RESULTS: No differences were found between the telehealth and standard care groups for infections, rejections, or hospitalizations at the 6-month data end point. Overall, females had twice as many infections as males (P = .01). In this analysis, group assignment did not affect study outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: The rates of infection, rejection, and hospitalization in a sample of primarily long-term transplant patients did not differ between patients who received telehealth follow-up and patients who received standard care, indicating that this delivery system can be used to provide follow-up care after transplant.