A systematic review in Lancet Healthy Longevity evaluated technology-based interventions — video visits, mobile health applications, and remote patient monitoring — for the follow-up and management of adults aged 65 and older after hospital discharge. The review assessed effectiveness, feasibility, and acceptability across rehospitalisation, quality of life, mental health, treatment adherence, and patient satisfaction. The period following discharge represents a documented gap in care for a population facing rising admission rates, longer stays, and higher hospitalisation costs.
Key Points
- Older adults face rising admissions, longer stays, higher hospitalisation costs
- Review assessed video visits, mobile apps, remote patient monitoring
- Outcomes examined included rehospitalisation, adherence, mental health, quality of life
Longevity Analysis
Recovery after hospitalisation is the point at which repair capacity is most fragile and most modifiable — mobility, mood, medication handling, and sleep all shift simultaneously, and a missed signal during this window often reappears as a readmission. Continuous remote data closes the interpretive gap between discharge and the next clinical encounter, allowing deterioration to be identified while it is still reversible rather than after it has escalated. The determining variable is not the sophistication of the technology but whether the older adult and their support network can sustain its use daily over the weeks that recovery actually requires.
Original published by The Lancet Healthy Longevity, by Harmehr Sekhon, Ariane Lajoie, Sarah Aly, Sasha Elbaz, Kerman Sekhon, Reuben Sidlofsky, Vincent Paquin, Brent P Forester, Julia Chabot, Germain Honvo, Martin Curley, Tarek K Rajji.