Wearable technology to leverage home—Based cardiac rehabilitation: A step forward in cardiovascular disease management

Abstract

Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) refers to interventions aiming towards reducing cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. This is achieved through a multidisciplinary approach aiming to optimise cardiac patients' physical, mental and social functioning. Since 1994, the American Heart Association has expanded the indications of CR to individuals with "stable chronic heart failure, peripheral arterial disease with claudication, or other forms of cardiovascular disease (CVD)" CR in this demographic expands over post-operative care and mobilisation, and entails health and nutritional counselling, physical exercise, smoking cessation, alcohol control, stress management and risk stratification. [1][2][3] Several countries have developed CR Units (CRUs) and programs for secondary prevention. However, evidence suggest that they remain underutilised for various reasons, such as lack of accessibility to health services, less insurance coverage, lack of enrolment, and poor referral systems, especially for under-privileged demographics. In the