The following is a guest article by Subhro Mallik, SVP and Head of Life Sciences business unit at Infosys.
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) claims more lives than any other ailment. In 2019, it accounted for about one-third of total deaths globally. CVD also takes an enormous economic toll – US$ 1 billion per day in the United States alone. What makes it worse is that more than 80 percent of cardiovascular disease is preventable. Patients have the biggest role in CVD prevention, by eliminating as many lifestyle-related risk factors as possible, such as smoking, unhealthy eating, and physical inactivity. But the healthcare system should also shift from reactive to preventive care to mitigate disease incidence. One measure that is proving efficacious in preventing and managing CVD is digital health intervention, the use of digital technologies to support the needs of the healthcare ecosystem.
The field of digital health is expanding with every advance in digital technology. Smartphone apps, artificial intelligence solutions, biomedical sensors, and wearable fitness trackers are coming together in telemedicine, health education, disease prediction and management, etc. A meta-analysis conducted some years ago found that patients subjected to digital interventions reported a 39 percent reduction in adverse cardiovascular outcomes, compared to others. What’s more, digital intervention is not only effective, it is also cost-effective in managing CVD.
Digital technologies find application throughout the cardiovascular disease treatment lifecycle, from prevention, to detection and diagnosis, to monitoring and management.
Prevention: Digital enables crucial early identification
Forewarned is forearmed. Early identification is a huge part of CVD prevention. When doctors treat patients via telemedicine, the data from any digitized interactions can be added to an electronic health records database; data aggregated from patient populations can be mined using machine learning to identify patterns and correlations that could help predict disease. Beyond that, patients’ health data from smartphone apps and wearable devices can be used in epidemiological studies to improve understanding of CVD.
Today, deep learning can extract information from a patient’s retinal images that can predict their risk of getting cardiovascular disease. Recently, scientists at the University of Utah Health made a breakthrough in CVD prediction using artificial intelligence. Thus far, the methods used for calculating the impact of risk factors on CVD have proved unreliable. By analyzing more than 1.6 million anonymized electronic health records through machine learning, the scientists were able to accurately measure the combined impact of existing co-morbid conditions on the heart and blood vessels.
Detection: Digital makes diagnosis more accessible
Early detection is next only to prevention in CVD care; it improves treatment outcomes and reduces the likelihood of further damage. Unfortunately, millions of patients do not get diagnosed on time due to reasons such as, overburdened healthcare systems, inadequate health infrastructure, and lack of medical insurance or financial resources.
Because digital health solutions are cost-effective, hospitals can deploy them in large numbers to make diagnosis accessible to underserved populations. One clever and inexpensive innovation is a “digital stethoscope” made by attaching a metal egg cup to a mobile phone’s hands-free kit that can record children’s heart sounds to detect rheumatic heart disease.
In the case of well-off populations that can afford them, wearable devices can help to detect conditions such as high blood pressure, atrial fibrillation, tachycardia, bradycardia etc. Artificial intelligence looks promising as a diagnostic tool, and the day is not far when chatbots are actively used in triaging.
Management: Digital improves patient monitoring and engagement
The importance of a healthy lifestyle for mitigating CVD cannot be overstated. Unfortunately, a huge majority of patients do not follow dietary restrictions and exercise regimens, and less than half take their prescribed medication. Closer oversight and proactive engagement by care providers can improve patient compliance, but is pretty much overruled in an overextended healthcare system.
Digital technology, by virtue of being highly scalable and economical, is a game changer. Now practitioners can check on their patients with just a smartphone or internet-enabled device. And it works. Clinical studies show a positive impact of digital intervention by healthcare providers on patients’ medication adherence, physical activity, and diet.
Providers can also monitor patients’ health indicators better with the help of digital solutions. For example, patients fitted with Bluetooth-enabled pacemakers transmit its data via smartphone to their doctors with a 95 percent success rate, compared to 55-75 percent with manual/ bedside-monitoring based transmissions.
Another trial showed that when doctors asked patients to monitor their blood pressure on a wireless device, they measured and sent on average, 55 readings over 3 months; in contrast, patients coming to the clinic recorded less than 1 reading in the same period.
Cardiovascular disease is a massive health and economic problem. And it will continue to grow unless disease prevention, rather than cure, becomes the goal. This is where digital intervention, along with other interventions such as policy making, infrastructure creation, and education, can play an influential role at affordable cost.
About Subhro Mallik
Subhro Mallik is the SVP and Head of Life Sciences business unit at Infosys. He leads a team of client partners and sales executives to grow Infosys business in existing and new clients. He brings rich experience of growing new businesses, building teams, and ensuring profitable growth.
In his previous role, Subhro was AVP and Head of Life Sciences, Americas. He has also managed client relationships for one of the largest Life Sciences customers for Infosys (a top 5 Pharma). This account today has IT, BPO and consulting services spanning the US, Europe, and Asia.
Subhro was one of the founding members and member of unit leadership team for Infosys Infrastructure services business unit (IMS). He led conceptualization of service offerings and go-to market strategy for IMS.
Subhro has been with Infosys since 1998. He has a bachelor degree in engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee and completed Infosys Global Leadership Program from Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
