Mobile Health Advances in Physical Activity and Atrial Fibrillation

Authors:
McConnell MV, Turakhai MP, Harrington RA, King AC, Ashley EA.
Citation:
Mobile Health Advances in Physical Activity, Fitness, and Atrial Fibrillation: Moving Hearts. J Am Coll Cardiol 2018;71:2691-2701.

The following are key points to remember from this review article about mobile health advances in physical activity, fitness, and atrial fibrillation:

  1. Use of mobile health (mHealth) is a subset of digital health, which focuses on mobile/wearable devices and related software applications (apps). Such devices and apps have facilitated the ability for patients to provide data and improved shared decision making in their care. Integration with other digital health areas such as electronic medical records and use of artificial intelligence and deep learning translate into a time of great potential for health care.
  2. In terms of physical activity, there is an exponential number of devices and apps which aim to improve physical activity among different populations at risk for cardiovascular disease. mHealth can provide novel data to important questions regarding the dose and frequency of physical activity to reduce risk. The same is true for understanding risk related to sedentary time.
  3. To date, studies that focus on mHealth to improve weight loss and cardiometabolic factors while increasing physical activity have been mixed. Differences in devices, apps, and often lack of a behavioral framework account for heterogeneity in efficacy of mHealth intervention. Still, tailoring of the intervention and use of interventions in specific areas such as the workplace can be effective.
  4. Atrial fibrillation is one condition in which mHealth may improve management. Heart rate monitoring and arrhythmia detection have greatly improved with newer devices. Concomitantly, behavioral change to improve physical activity may improve symptom burden and associated treatments, including ablation.
  5. mHealth is here to stay. Improving accuracy and data privacy, as well as determining efficacy will be important tasks for the future.

Keywords: Arrhythmias, Cardiac, Artificial Intelligence, Atrial Fibrillation, Delivery of Health Care, Electronic Health Records, Exercise, Heart Rate, Metabolic Syndrome, Mobile Applications, Physical Fitness, Primary Prevention, Privacy, Risk Factors, Telemedicine, Weight Loss


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