Characteristics of included studies.

<p>*Details in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0129282#pone.0129282.s010" target="_blank">S7 Table</a>; for risk of bias, numerator indicates the number of “low risk” categories as per the Cochrane tool (higher fractions have a lower risk of bias).</p><p>†Patients acted as their own controls.</p><p>‡NYHA class only reported for patients who died: 5 class IV, 4 class III, and one class II.</p><p>ACS = acute coronary syndrome; AF = atrial fibrillation; COPD = chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; DC = dilated cardiomyopathy; DM: diabetes mellitus; ECG = electrocardiogram; EF = ejection fraction; HaH = hospital at home; HC = hypertensive cardiopathy; HCE = hypercholesterolemia; HTN = hypertension; IHD = ischemic heart disease; IV = intravenous; NR = not reported; NYHA = New York Heart Association; OT = occupational therapy; PC = prospective cohort; PT = physical therapy; RC = restrictive cardiomyopathy; RCT = randomized controlled trial; RD = respiratory disease; RF = renal failure; RH = routine hospitalization; RI = respiratory infection; SD = standard deviation; VD = valve disease.</p><p>Characteristics of included studies.