Edinburgh Napier University

  Background
Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation improves clinical outcomes and quality of life. Technology-enabled delivery of remote cardiac rehabilitation is as effective in improving health outcomes as in-person delivery and has the potential to transform clinical service delivery. However, for the successful translation of research to clinical practice, interventions must be adequately reported in the literature.

Methods
Systematic review of MedLine, CINAHL, PubMed and SPORT Discus databases applying PRISMA guidance. Randomised controlled trials of remote or hybrid technology-enabled exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation interventions were included. Completeness of reporting was evaluated against the TIDieR checklist.

Results
The search strategy returned 162 articles which, following screening, resulted in 12 randomised trials being included containing data for 1588 participants. No trial fully reported their rehabilitation intervention as per the 12-item TIDieR checklist, with a median score of 8 out of 12 categories. Notably, intervention detail, dosage and modification were comparatively poorly reported.

Conclusion
Technology-enabled remotely delivered cardiac rehabilitation may be effective at improving cardiovascular fitness, however the quality of reporting of these interventions in randomised trials is insufficient for replication which has material implications for translation into clinical practice.