Mobile Health Technologies for Older Adults with Cardiovascular Disease: Current Evidence and Future Directions

Mobile health and cardiac rehabilitation in older adults

“…It is currently estimated that 81% of all Americans own a smartphone . Mobile health (mHealth) is defined by the World Health Organization as the delivery of medical practice by mobile devices, including smartphones, tablets, or wearable monitoring devices; this definition has more recently expanded to include mobile applications (“apps”), social media, and location tracking technology to obtain data relevant to surveillance, diagnosis, and management of chronic diseases …”

“…There are estimated to be more than 250 000 mHealth applications currently available to consumers, and many applications have been designed for surveillance and management of CVD. CVD, perhaps more than other disease domains, lends itself to synchronization with mHealth technologies, as many metrics relevant to disease management (heart rate, blood pressure, weight, rhythm analysis) are dynamic and quantifiable . To date, mHealth has been used to facilitate recovery after acute myocardial infarction (AMI), monitor arrhythmias, and to track ambulatory blood pressures .…”

“…The Technology Acceptance Model, based on the Theory of Reasoned Action, states that the key factors for the adoption of a new technology are its perceived ease of use and its perceived usefulness . Perceived difficulty of use has in fact been cited as a reason for lack of use of mHealth applications by older patients, but other barriers exist: for example, age‐related sensory changes (fine motor skill deficiencies, vision loss) make certain devices more difficult to manipulate . The recent development of personal voice assistants (“Siri” by Apple; “Alexa” by Amazon), which interpret user voice commands, may be particularly useful in older populations, where vocalization is often maintained, and should be a focus in the development of mHealth applications going forward .…”

“…dynamic and quantifiable. 3 To date, mHealth has been used to facilitate recovery after acute myocardial infarction (AMI), 9 monitor arrhythmias, 10 and to track ambulatory blood pressures. 11 Applications have also been created to encourage medication adherence, facilitate social support, 3 and augment the positive effects of cardiac rehabilitation (CR).…”

Monitoring Older Adults’ Health Information Using Mobile Technology: A Systematic Literature Review

“…Researchers have studied mobile health technologies for older adults, especially those with cardiovascular disease. A recent literature review identified that the most commonly used technologies in cardiovascular disease monitoring are mobile apps, and that these applications are mostly used for blood pressure monitoring, cardiac rehabilitation, arrhythmia monitoring, medication management and social support [14]. Recently, several mobile health technologies (mHealth) have emerged with the aim of providing innovative and efficient ways to help older adults in their daily lives and to reduce the cost of health care [15,16], e.g., monitoring vital functions and disease patterns [17], detecting falls or changes in motion patterns or routines [18,19] or informing health care professionals of patients' health status [20].…”