JMIR Cardio

Emergency Department (ED) crowding is often attributed to a slow hospitalization process, leading to reduced quality of care. Predicting early disposition with cardiac-presenting patients is challenging: most are ultimately discharged, yet those with a cardiac etiology frequently require hospital admission. Existing scores rely on single-time-point data and often underperform when patient risk evolves during the visit.

Heart disease remains a leading cause of death for women in the United States, yet awareness and knowledge are declining. Artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots have great potential to educate women.

Wearable devices offer a promising solution for remotely monitoring heart rate (HR) during home-based cardiac rehabilitation. However, evidence regarding their accuracy across varying exercise intensities and patient profiles remains limited, particularly in populations with cardiovascular disease (CVD), such as those with heart failure (HF).

Exercise capacity and lifestyle have proven to be important prognostic factors for cardiovascular patients. Both can be ameliorated through different preventive interventions. Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) and remote patient monitoring (RPM) have proven to reduce cardiac events and cardiovascular mortality. One of the most important goals of CR and RPM is improving physical fitness and monitoring of cardiovascular parameters which could predict cardiac deterioration. In order to monitor cardiac patients successfully, reliable and non-obtrusive devices to assess physical activity (PA) and cardiovascular parameters need to be available.

Efforts to improve diversity in clinical trials often prioritize recruitment based on broad demographic factors. This approach may overlook the influence of community context and health-related social needs on health behaviors, including sodium intake, a key modifiable risk factor for hypertension and cardiovascular disease.

A 12-week digital health program for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) previously showed feasibility in engagement, program retention and clinical outcomes.

Heart failure remains a major global health issue, significantly impacting patients' quality of life due to its chronic and progressive nature. Effective discharge planning, including educational interventions such as videos and booklets, plays a crucial role in enhancing self-care management and overall patient well-being.

Self-measured blood pressure monitoring is necessary for successful management of hypertension. However, disparities in blood pressure control persist, with low-income patients and racial/ethnic minorities more likely to have uncontrolled hypertension. These patients are also at increased risk for digital exclusion. Several validated blood pressure monitors for self-measured monitoring are available, but little is known about patient preferences between different device traits. Studies have shown that poor usability or technology design can lead to barriers to adoption.

Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is essential for recovery from cardiovascular disease. However, patients often encounter challenges in navigating the transition from acute hospital care to CR. Mobile health (mHealth) technologies may support this critical phase, yet evidence regarding their clinical practice remains limited. The HERO app was developed to address cardiac patients’ needs for orientation, emotional support, and motivation during this transition.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a prevalent chronic condition with increasing incidence worldwide. AF increases the risks of stroke, heart failure, and myocardial infarction and imposes a substantial burden on the healthcare system. Cardiac rehabilitation programs, while effective, often suffer from low patient adherence. Recent evidence suggests that cardiac telerehabilitation, where patients are given home monitoring devices, could enhance adherence and outcomes. The program ‘Future Patient – Telerehabilitation of patients with AF’ (FP-AF) was created to assess the effects and potential benefits of cardiac telerehabilitation on AF patients. This study explores patient experiences with the FP-AF program.

Patient education and self-management support are critical for atrial fibrillation (AF) management. Conversational artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to provide interactive and personalised support but has not been evaluated in patients with AF.

Remote patient management (RPM) utilizing smartphone-enabled health monitoring devices (SHMDs) can be an effective, value-added part of cardiovascular care. However, cardiac patients’ adherence to RPM is variable. Personas are fictional representations of users with common behaviors, needs, and motivation, and can thereby, help guide tailoring of interventions to be meaningful and possibly more effective. Personas can be used to understand the needs of the patient group and guide tailoring towards more personalized and effective eHealth intervention.