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Review
. 2022 Oct;9(5):2808-2822.
doi: 10.1002/ehf2.14022. Epub 2022 Jul 12.

Digital health in older adults for the prevention and management of cardiovascular diseases and frailty. A clinical consensus statement from the ESC Council for Cardiology Practice/Taskforce on Geriatric Cardiology, the ESC Digital Health Committee and the ESC Working Group on e-Cardiology

Luigina Guasti  1 , Polychronis Dilaveris  2 , Mamas A Mamas  3 , Dimitrios Richter  4 , Ruxandra Christodorescu  5 , Joost Lumens  6 , Mark J Schuuring  7 , Stefano Carugo  8 , Jonathan Afilalo  9 , Marc Ferrini  10 , Riccardo Asteggiano  1   11 , Martin R Cowie  12
Affiliations
Review

Digital health in older adults for the prevention and management of cardiovascular diseases and frailty. A clinical consensus statement from the ESC Council for Cardiology Practice/Taskforce on Geriatric Cardiology, the ESC Digital Health Committee and the ESC Working Group on e-Cardiology

Luigina Guasti et al. ESC Heart Fail. 2022 Oct.

Abstract

Digital health technology is receiving increasing attention in cardiology. The rise of accessibility of digital health tools including wearable technologies and smart phone applications used in medical practice has created a new era in healthcare. The coronavirus pandemic has provided a new impetus for changes in delivering medical assistance across the world. This Consensus document discusses the potential implementation of digital health technology in older adults, suggesting a practical approach to general cardiologists working in an ambulatory outpatient clinic, highlighting the potential benefit and challenges of digital health in older patients with, or at risk of, cardiovascular disease. Advancing age may lead to a progressive loss of independence, to frailty, and to increasing degrees of disability. In geriatric cardiology, digital health technology may serve as an additional tool both in cardiovascular prevention and treatment that may help by (i) supporting self-caring patients with cardiovascular disease to maintain their independence and improve the management of their cardiovascular disease and (ii) improving the prevention, detection, and management of frailty and supporting collaboration with caregivers. Digital health technology has the potential to be useful for every field of cardiology, but notably in an office-based setting with frequent contact with ambulatory older adults who may be pre-frail or frail but who are still able to live at home. Cardiologists and other healthcare professionals should increase their digital health skills and learn how best to apply and integrate new technologies into daily practice and how to engage older people and their caregivers in a tailored programme of care.

Keywords: Cardiovascular disease; Cardiovascular prevention; Digital health; Digital technology; Frailty; Geriatric cardiology; Older adults; eHealth.

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Conflict of interest statement

L Guasti, P Dilaveris, MA Mamas, D Richter, R Christodorescu, J Lumens, M J Schuuring, S Carugo, J Afilalo, M Ferrini, R Asteggiano, and MR Cowie declare no conflict of interest and declare that the submitted work is original and has not been published before (neither in English nor in any other language) and that the work is not under consideration for publication elsewhere.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(A) Ageing and frailty‐related health decline. (B) Frailty domains and components.
Figure 2
Figure 2
DH interventions in older adults with, or at risk of, CV disease.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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