[ad_1]
cardiovascular disease (CVD) claims around 18·6 million lives every year.
Yet the COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the uptake of digital health, creating an opportunity to strengthen the response to CVD. With the increasing access to the internet, and through telemedicine and artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled devices, advances in digital health provide an impetus to improve access and achieve greater equity in health care for the millions of people at risk of or living with CVD,
- Pogosova N
- Yufereva Y
- Sokolova O
- Yusubova A
- Suvorov A
- Saner H
particularly those in lower-resource settings with limited access to in-person treatment. Although this digital transformation is not a magic bullet, it could help redraw the health-care landscape by improving access to care for underserved populations and by reducing pressures on overloaded health-care systems.
A trial in the UK of a digital health tool for the management of hypertension is a good example.
The technology facilitates self-monitoring of blood pressure and includes reminders and predetermined drug changes combined with support for behaviour change. The study showed that the tool led to better control of systolic blood pressure after 1 year than usual care.
The increasing application of AI to the electrocardiogram is another example of harnessing AI in the management of CVD.
The potential of remote CVD management has been highlighted in the COVID-19 pandemic when face-to-face medical consultations have not been possible in many settings. Lessons learned—both positive and negative—from this move to digitally enabled care can facilitate the use of digital health for the prevention and management of CVD worldwide.
Digital health also has a part to play in addressing health inequalities and increasing access to health-care in low-resource settings. For instance, as digital health expands, governments need to reconsider approaches to investment in medical training and in technology infrastructure and access.
Patients were able to consult doctors and specialists online about their health, including their blood pressure. The study showed that telemedicine was effective in improving control of systolic blood pressure and gave patients access to quality, affordable medication.
Wherever it takes place, it is crucial that advances in digital health do not exacerbate inequality in health care.
,
If we are to make global recommendations, then we need the same quality of data everywhere, representing all people. The development of digital health affords an opportunity to redress this imbalance and equalise the data framework for CVD and other diseases.
We declare no competing interests.
References
- 1.
Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic.
- 2.
Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs).
- 3.
Telemedicine intervention to improve long-term risk factor control and body composition in persons with high cardiovascular risk: results from a randomized trial: telehealth strategies may offer an advantage over standard institutional based interventions for improvement of cardiovascular risk in high-risk patients long-term.
Glob Heart. 2021; 16: 21
- 4.
The benefits of telemedicine in personalized prevention of cardiovascular diseases (CVD): a systematic review.
J Pers Med. 2021; 11: 658
- 5.
Home and Online Management and Evaluation of Blood Pressure (HOME BP) using a digital intervention in poorly controlled hypertension: randomised controlled trial.
BMJ. 2021; 372m4858
- 6.
Artificial intelligence-enhanced electrocardiography in cardiovascular disease management.
Nat Rev Cardiol. 2021; 18: 465-478
- 7.
Telemedicine is an effective way to manage cardiovascular disease in rural Kenya and to achieve universal healthcare.
Eur Heart J. 2020; 41 ()
- 8.
Measuring digital development facts and figures.
- 9.
Contextual bias, the democratization of healthcare, and medical artificial intelligence in low- and middle-income countries.
Bioethics. 2021; ()
- 10.
Machine learning for subtype definition and risk prediction in heart failure, acute coronary syndromes and atrial fibrillation: systematic review of validity and clinical utility.
BMC Med. 2021; 19: 85
Article Info
Publication History
Published: September 28, 2021
Identification
Copyright
© 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
ScienceDirect
[ad_2]
Source link