Digital Health Applications in Heart Failure: a Critical Appraisal of Literature

Abstract

Purpose of the review Despite advancements in the diagnostic and therapeutic armamentarium, heart failure (HF) remains a major public health concern in the USA and worldwide. Digital health applications hold promise to bridge this gap and improve HF care. This review will provide the reader with a concise overview of the current digital health applications in HF, the main challenges to its use, and discuss the future of digital health for promoting care for HF patients. Recent findings Emerging evidence continues to support the potential role of digital health across the continuum of HF disease process including primary prevention, early detection, disease management, and reducing associated morbidity. There is also increasing emphasis on the need to pursue rigorous investigations to validate these promising claims, with some successful stories that have changed clinical practices. Summary Digital health technologies have emerged as potentially useful tools to complement HF care in both research and clinical realms. As digital technologies continue to play an increasing role in transforming healthcare delivery, creating the framework for its effective use would be necessary to ensure that digital health applications consistently improve outcomes and enhance care for HF patients.

Optimizing outcomes in heart failure: 2022 and beyond

“…41 Other easy-to-access approaches may be explored to increase patient engagement, for example, simple infographics and patient education videos on video-sharing websites, which may help to empower patients to know what good care is, to advocate for their own optimal therapy, and to self-manage more effectively. Digital health applications create the opportunity to educate patients with HF to enhance adherence and modify healthy behaviours, 42 and further research may provide better insight into the long-term effects of such applications. Patient advocacy may also be useful to help improve guideline-recommended treatment implementation in general, for example, via QI benchmarking of local institutions.…”

Consensus on Recommended Functions of a Smart Home System to Improve Self-Management Behaviors in People With Heart Failure: A Modified Delphi Approach

“…Previous trials involving implantable devices, mobile phone applications, text messaging, web-based programs and telemonitoring have shown to support self-management in people with heart failure (10)(11)(12). A systematic review and metaanalysis of randomized controlled trials, comparing whether people with heart failure received telemedicine or usual standard care, showed overall all-cause mortality (pooled OR = 0.80, 0.71 to 0.91, p < 0.001) and heart failure-related admission rate (pooled OR = 0.63, 0.53 to 0.76, p < 0.001) were significantly lower in the telemedicine group (13).…”

Therapeutic components of digital counseling for chronic heart failure

“…In this period of the COVID-19 pandemic, the maintenance, monitoring, and management of self-care behaviors among patients with CHF has become increasingly important to reduce hospital readmissions and to maintain health status ( 2 ). Digital health interventions have become increasingly prominent ( 2 , 6 ), and utilized to support patient CHF self-care ( 7 ). These digital interventions have the potential to complement conventional clinic-based treatment programs for CHF patients in a manner that is efficacious, accessible, and replicable ( 6 , 8 ).…”

“…Digital health interventions have become increasingly prominent ( 2 , 6 ), and utilized to support patient CHF self-care ( 7 ). These digital interventions have the potential to complement conventional clinic-based treatment programs for CHF patients in a manner that is efficacious, accessible, and replicable ( 6 , 8 ).…”