Current Cardiovascular Risk Reports最新文献

Purpose of review: South Asian Americans experience higher cardiometabolic risk and disproportionately high rates of cardiovascular disease (CVD) compared to other racial and ethnic groups in the United States. The purpose of this review is to summarize recent evidence about the role of obesity in CVD risk in South Asian Americans and identify key evidence gaps and future directions for research and interventions for obesity in this group.

Recent findings: South Asian Americans are predisposed to abdominal obesity and have a higher distribution of visceral fat, intermuscular fat, and intrahepatic fat compared to adults of other race and ethnic groups. In this population, the risk for cardiometabolic disease appears to be elevated even at a normal body mass index. Social, cultural, religious, interpersonal, and environmental factors are related to obesity and obesity-related behaviors among South Asian Americans.

Summary: There is a relatively high prevalence of obesity in South Asian-origin populations in the United States, who have unique socio-cultural determinants of overweight and obesity. Future research should clarify why the risk for metabolic disease and CVD is elevated at normal BMI in the South Asian American population, and environmental and other structural factors that may influence obesity in this group. Interventions must be adapted to the social and cultural context of South Asian Americans to improve effectiveness and implementation.

Purpose of review: Remote monitoring (RM) of cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) is an important part of patient follow-up. The increasing number of patients with CIEDs and the recent pandemic pose several challenges for already limited device clinic resources. This review focuses on recent evolutions in RM and identifies future needs to improve RM.

Recent findings: RM has been associated with multiple clinical benefits, including improved survival, early detection of actionable events, reduction in inappropriate shocks, longer battery lives, and more efficient healthcare utilization. The survival benefit was driven by studies using alert-based continuous RM with daily transmissions and fast reaction times. Patients report a high satisfaction rate without significant differences in quality of life between RM and in-office follow-up.The increasing workload, due to the increasing number of CIEDs implanted with daily remote transmissions, results in several challenges for the future of RM. RM requires appropriate reimbursement for RM device clinics to optimize patient/staff ratios, including sufficient non-clinical and administrative support. Universal alert programming and data processing may minimize inter-manufacturer differences, improve the signal-to-noise ratio, and allow the development of standard operating protocols and workflows. In the future, programming by remote control and true remote programming may further improve remote CIED management, patient quality of life, and device clinic workflows.

Summary: RM should be considered standard of care in management of patients with CIEDs. The clinical benefits of RM can be maximized by an alert-based continuous RM model. Adapted healthcare policies are required to keep RM manageable for the future.

Purpose of review: In this review, we present a comprehensive discussion on the population-level implications of digital health interventions (DHIs) to improve cardiovascular health (CVH) through sex- and gender-specific prevention strategies among women.

Recent findings: Over the past 30 years, there have been significant advancements in the diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases, a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among men and women worldwide. However, women are often underdiagnosed, undertreated, and underrepresented in cardiovascular clinical trials, which all contribute to disparities within this population. One approach to address this is through DHIs, particularly among racial and ethnic minoritized groups. Implementation of telemedicine has shown promise in increasing adherence to healthcare visits, improving BP monitoring, weight control, physical activity, and the adoption of healthy behaviors. Furthermore, the use of mobile health applications facilitated by smart devices, wearables, and other eHealth (defined as electronically delivered health services) modalities has also promoted CVH among women in general, as well as during pregnancy and the postpartum period. Overall, utilizing a digital health approach for healthcare delivery, decentralized clinical trials, and incorporation into daily lifestyle activities has the potential to improve CVH among women by mitigating geographical, structural, and financial barriers to care.

Summary: Leveraging digital technologies and strategies introduces novel methods to address sex- and gender-specific health and healthcare disparities and improve the quality of care provided to women. However, it is imperative to be mindful of the digital divide in specific populations, which may hinder accessibility to these novel technologies and inadvertently widen preexisting inequities.

Purpose of review: A variety of mobile-based applications aimed at weight loss have become popular in recent years. This review describes the features and effectiveness of mobile weight loss apps.

Recent findings: Overall, mobile apps can help patients lose weight either as well as or better than traditional paper-and-pencil weight loss interventions and often better than minimal intervention control groups. Mobile apps promote multiple strategies, including self-monitoring of diet, exercise, and weight, as well as social support and educational content. Significant variation exists in app types, which makes it difficult to conclude which features drive program effectiveness. Intervention success varies based on patients' level of engagement with the app. There is a deficit of apps and app-based studies of older, less tech-savvy adults, ethnic/racial minorities, and low-income individuals, as well as longer-term studies.

Summary: Mobile apps can successfully help patients lose weight and represent a cost-effective, accessible alternative to intensive in-person weight loss programs. More research is needed into their long-term potential, especially for hard-to-reach populations.

Purpose of review: In this review, we define health equity, disparities, and social determinants of health; the different components of digital health; the barriers to digital health equity; and cardiovascular digital health trials and possible solutions to improve health equity through digital health.

Recent findings: Digital health interventions show incredible potential to improve cardiovascular diseases by obtaining longitudinal, continuous, and actionable patient data; increasing access to care; and by decreasing delivery barriers and cost. However, certain populations have experienced decreased access to digital health innovations and decreased representation in cardiovascular digital health trials.

Summary: Special efforts will need to be made to expand access to the different elements of digital health, ensuring that the digital divide does not exacerbate health disparities. As the expansion of digital health technologies continues, it is vital to increase representation of minoritized groups in all stages of the process: product development (needs findings and screening, concept generation, product creation, and testing), clinical research (pilot studies, feasibility studies, and randomized control trials), and finally health services deployment.

Purpose of review: Through this review, we attempt to explore the role of telemedicine and virtual visits in the field of cardiology pre-COVID-19 and during COVID-19 pandemic, their limitations and their future scope for delivery of care.

Recent findings: Telemedicine, which rose to prominence during COVID-19 pandemic, helped not only in reducing the burden on the healthcare system during a time of crisis but also in improving patient outcomes. Patients and physicians also favored virtual visits when feasible. Virtual visits were found to have the potential to be continued beyond the pandemic and play a significant role in patient care alongside conventional face-to-face visits.

Summary: Although tele-cardiology has proven beneficial in terms of patient care, convenience, and access, it comes with its fair share of limitations-both logistical and medical. Whilst there remains a great scope for improvement in the quality of patient care provided through telemedicine, it has shown the potential to become an integral part of medical practice in the future.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12170-023-00719-0.