Long-term follow-up of cardiac patients with a smartphone-application

In this project, we investigated both the feasibility and the effectiveness of using an app to monitor and provide individualized follow-up for patients who had participated in cardiac rehabilitation.

Adherence to both pharmacological and lifestyle-based treatments for non-communicable diseases (NCDs) represents a significant global challenge.

Poor adherence leads to substantial societal costs and negatively impacts patients' health and quality of life. Cardiovascular disease is the leading NCD globally, followed by cancer, type 2 diabetes, and chronic respiratory disease.

Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) effectively reduces the risk of recurrent cardiac events and is therefore a key component of cardiac care. However, many patients struggle to maintain the lifestyle changes acquired during rehabilitation, and evidence on long-term effects is limited.

The use of technology, such as mobile apps, has been proposed to meet the challenge of non-adherence post-CR.