Cardiac rehabilitation in the digital era

Abstract

Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) after a heart attack or open-heart surgery acclimatises patients to increased physical activity. CR is not universally available and where it is available the requirement for multiple visits to a clinic can limit participation. Only about 20–30% of people who meet the criteria take part in CR for structured physical activity, education, and behavioural counselling on modifiable risk factors. There is a potential path to mobilise mobile technology to make CR more widely accessible and tailored to individual needs. Digital medicine: empowering both patients and cliniciansWhen physicians and health-care professionals think of the term digital medicine a first reaction might be that this represents an oxymoron. Medicine involves human touch and anything digital has traditionally been conceived as its antithesis. This sentiment is unsurprising given reactions to the big foray of computers in medicine—electronic medical records—considered by some to have diminished the relationship between doctors and their patients. Full-Text PDF Artificial intelligence, bias, and patients' perspectivesSome of the most exciting applications of machine learning to medicine involve the kinds of data that cannot be analysed with traditional statistical models: medical imaging, waveforms, and videos. Researchers are training algorithms to take in these complex signals, and output a doctor's interpretation—eg, given a particular retinal fundus photograph, would an ophthalmologist identify diabetic retinopathy? Algorithms based on datasets that pair images or waveforms with “labels” assigned by a doctor have the potential to drive improvements in efficiency and diagnostic accuracy. Full-Text PDF