TELEWEAR-CR cardiac telerehabilitation study wins Hellenic Cardiology Society grant

The Hellenic Cardiology Society (Ελληνική Καρδιολογική Εταιρεία) has awarded a competitive research grant to TELEWEAR-CR, a CeprLab study on cardiac telerehabilitation. The distinction was announced at the 45th Panhellenic Cardiology Congress (31 October – 2 November 2024) and confirmed in January 2025.

What is TELEWEAR-CR studying?

Cardiac rehabilitation — supervised exercise after a heart event — is one of the most effective secondary‑prevention tools in cardiology, yet participation stays low because patients must travel to a hospital several times a week. TELEWEAR-CR asks a practical question: can a supervised programme delivered at home, using wearable sensors that stream exercise data back to the clinical team, match the standard hospital programme on effectiveness and safety?

The published protocol is a single‑blind, parallel‑group randomised controlled trial in patients with coronary heart disease, comparing a 12‑week home telerehabilitation programme against conventional centre‑based rehabilitation, with cardiorespiratory fitness as the primary outcome.

Why does it matter — and for whom?

For patients, home‑based rehabilitation could remove the travel barrier that keeps many people from finishing a programme. For clinicians, wearable monitoring offers a way to supervise exercise remotely without losing sight of safety. For the health system, wider participation in cardiac rehabilitation is linked to fewer readmissions.

Who is behind it?

TELEWEAR-CR is led by Assoc. Prof. Garyfallia Pepera, Deputy Director of CeprLab, with PhD candidate Varsamo Antoniou and a supervisory team including Prof. Eleni Kapreli and Dr Konstantinos Davos. The grant supports the running of the trial and the analysis of its results.