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Digital health is a dynamic and evolving field that needs new approaches to assess innovative technologies' efficacy and effectiveness. 
Alex D'Souza
FREMONT, CA: Studies have assessed the impact of digital health technologies on improving cardiovascular disease care outcomes through several modalities. They include text-messaging programs, smartphone applications, and wearable devices. Text-messaging programs are to date the most studied type of digital health solution, and studies have demonstrated reduced risk and improved medication adherence. The use of smartphone apps is also evolving but remains limited, with some studies favoring health apps. Wearable devices are the latest type of technology, and studies have shown positive results in physical activity and the detection of arrhythmias.
CVD management and care's cornerstone is based on interventions to motivate lifestyle modification and adherence to effective cardiovascular treatments. Successful strategies to promote smoking cessation, scale physical activity levels, motivate a healthy diet, and enhance medication adherence are related to improvements in morbidity and reductions in mortality. However, given the millions of people at risk for or with CVD, there are challenges associated with offering comprehensive risk factor management to diverse populations. Health systems throughout the globe are charged with finding ways to reach more people in efficient ways.
Digital Health is defined as the use of digital, mobile, and wireless technologies to help achieve health objectives. Recently, the term digital health is most used to describe data and communications technologies for health and encompasses eHealth and mHealth interventions and emerging fields like big data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning. Digital health technologies are changing healthcare by facilitating disease prevention, diagnosis, and management, which, in turn, help patients and healthcare professionals to achieve better health outcomes.
Digital health has the potential to cement the gap of health access inequities by enhancing the reach and strengthening health systems. The ability of digital health interventions has become even more relevant during the current COVID-19 pandemic, in which social isolation has increased the need for the rapid proliferation of digital medicine and brought to light some of the regulatory hurdles that make digital expansion cumbersome.
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