Digital Health Applications in Heart Failure: a Critical Appraisal of Literature

PURPOSE OF THE REVIEW: Despite advancements in the diagnostic and therapeutic armamentarium, heart failure (HF) remains a major public health concern in the USA and worldwide. Digital health applications hold promise to bridge this gap and improve HF care. This review will provide the reader with a concise overview of the current digital health applications in HF, the main challenges to its use, and discuss the future of digital health for promoting care for HF patients. RECENT FINDINGS: Emerging evidence continues to support the potential role of digital health across the continuum of HF disease process including primary prevention, early detection, disease management, and reducing associated morbidity. There is also increasing emphasis on the need to pursue rigorous investigations to validate these promising claims, with some successful stories that have changed clinical practices. SUMMARY: Digital health technologies have emerged as potentially useful tools to complement HF care in both research and clinical realms. As digital technologies continue to play an increasing role in transforming healthcare delivery, creating the framework for its effective use would be necessary to ensure that digital health applications consistently improve outcomes and enhance care for HF patients.