Home Monitoring Program Reduces Mortality in High-Risk Sociodemographic Single-Ventricle Patients

A clinician-driven home monitoring program can improve interstage outcomes in single-ventricle patients. Sociodemographic factors have been independently associated with mortality in interstage patients. We hypothesized that even in a population with high-risk sociodemographic characteristics, a home monitoring program is effective in reducing interstage mortality. We defined interstage period as the time period between discharge following Norwood palliation and second-stage surgery. We reviewed the charts of patients for the three-year period before (group 1) and after (group 2) implementation of the home monitoring program. Clinical variables around Norwood palliation, during the interstage period, and at the time of second-stage surgery were analyzed. There were 74 patients in group 1 and 52 in group 2. 59 % patients were Hispanic, and 84 % lived in neighborhoods where over 5 % families lived below poverty line. There was no significant difference in pre-Norwood variables, Norwood discharge variables, age at second surgery, or outcomes at second surgery. There were more Sano shunts performed at the Norwood procedure as the source of pulmonary blood flow in group 2 (p value < 0.05). There were more unplanned hospital admissions and percutaneous re-interventions in group 2. Patients in group 2 whose admission criteria included desaturation had a 45 % likelihood of having an unplanned re-intervention. Group 2 noted an 80 % relative reduction in interstage mortality (p < 0.01). In a multiple regression analysis, after accounting for ethnicity, socio-economic status, and source of pulmonary blood flow, enrollment in a home monitoring program independently predicted improved interstage survival (p < 0.01). A clinician-driven home monitoring program reduces interstage mortality even when the majority of patients has high-risk sociodemographic characteristics.