m-Health in Coronary Disease Preventive Care

Abstract

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the leading cause of death worldwide. Despite the overwhelming evidence of the benefits of preventive care, many patients with CHD fail to receive and adhere to the guideline recommendations, inclufding lifestyle advice and evidence-based cardiovascular medication. Prevention programmes such as cardiac rehabilitation can improve adherence to these recommendations and therefore, reduce hospitalisation and mortality, and improve quality of life. However, such programmes are under-utilised due to a number of barriers. These barriers can be overcome with the use of mobile technologies to deliver healthcare, called mHealth. In this review, we discuss the potential use of mHealth in a variety of medical conditions and we highlight some promising applications in CHD prevention.