Mhealth use may assist in heart disease prevention

mhealth mobile health

Mobile health technology could help patients to be able to reduce their risks of cardiovascular illness.

A new statement released by the American Heart Association (AHA), which was published in the Circulation journal has shown that mhealth technologies may be able to help to enhance the prevention of cardiovascular disease (CVD).

This may occur as a result of being able to target certain types of lifestyle behaviors conducive to CVD prevention.

The publication was authored by Lora E. Burke, Ph.D., from the University of Pittsburgh. Burke and her colleagues looked into the role that mhealth can play when it comes to reducing the risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease by way of changes in lifestyle behaviors, as well as through the improvement of cardiovascular health. This involved an examination of 69 different studies that had used mobile health tech in order to decrease risk behaviors associated with CVD. These risk behavior reductions included the Simple 7 program from AHA Life, which focuses on seven primary health habits and indicators for cardiovascular health.

The statement also indicated that the number of mhealth apps is rising at a rate that has reached exponential levels.

mhealth mobile healthThat said, they also pointed out that the development of these apps is not evidence based, and yet they still manage to be able to have a positive impact on those risk factors. There was no data available with regards to engagement by the individual or the way in which mobile health apps could provide a treatment effect that was sustainable.

Mobile health applications are broadly available and they are not required to provide any information with regards to how accurate they are or whether or not there has been any kind of evaluation in terms of the effectiveness or safety of their use. Equally, these mobile technologies do have the chance to alter the way that messages relating to medicine and motivation may encourage individuals to alter their CVD prevention behaviors.

Moreover, mhealth tools that allow for monitoring can go above and beyond what would be possible to measure, track, and record within the brief span of traditional medical checkups and testing.

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