Objective To systematically evaluate the efficacy of telemedicine on patients with chronic heart failure. Methods We performed a computerized search of Web of Science, Embase, PubMed, Cochrane Library, China Biomedical Database (SinoMed), CNKI, Wanfang, and VIP databases for studies regarding telemedicine interventions for patients with chronic heart failure from their inception to November 5, 2025. Two reviewers independently conducted study screening, and data extraction. Risk of bias assessment for the included studies was performed using the Cochrane ROB 2.0 tool. Meta-analysis was performed using Review Manager 5.3 and Stata 17.0 software. Results A total of 39 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving 13 979 patients were included. All studies were rated as Grade A or B. The meta-analysis results showed that the intervention group had significantly lower rates of all-cause readmission [OR=0.63, 95%CI (0.50, 0.80), P<0.001], heart failure-related readmission [OR=0.50, 95%CI (0.38, 0.64), P<0.001], cardiovascular-related readmission [OR=0.55, 95%CI (0.38, 0.79), P=0.001], and heart failure-related mortality [OR=0.69, 95%CI (0.55, 0.88), P=0.003] compared to the control group. The quality of life [SMD=–1.05, 95%CI (–1.61, –0.49), P<0.001] and self-care ability [SMD=–1.53, 95%CI (–2.19, –0.86), P<0.001] in the intervention group were significantly better than those in the control group. There was no statistically significant difference in all-cause mortality between the two groups (P>0.05). Conclusion Telemedicine interventions can effectively reduce readmission rates and heart failure-related mortality in patients with chronic heart failure and have a positive effect on improving their quality of life and self-care ability. However, it has no significant effect on all-cause mortality. More large-sample RCTs with long-term follow-up are needed to further validate the impact of telemedicine on all-cause mortality in patients with heart failure.
