Do digital health tools improve physiological, behavioural, and psychosocial outcomes in post-acute coronary syndrome patients?
This review highlights the potential of digital health tools in post-ACS care and emphasizes the critical need for sex- and gender-sensitive approaches to ensure equitable benefits.
Digital health tools (DHTs) offer promising opportunities to enhance post-acute coronary syndrome (ACS) care by supporting secondary prevention, medication adherence, lifestyle modification, and remote monitoring. Evidence indicates that DHTs can improve physiological, behavioural, and psychosocial outcomes; however, sex- and gender-specific effects remain largely unstudied. Concurrently, women and gender-diverse individuals continue to experience disparities in all aspects of ACS care, including underdiagnosis, delayed treatment, and lower cardiac rehabilitation participation. This review synthesizes the current evidence on DHTs in post-ACS care, identifies knowledge gaps in sex- and gender-sensitive outcomes, and proposes strategies for designing, implementing, and evaluating inclusive interventions. Intentional integration of sex- and gender-sensitive approaches is essential to achieve equitable benefits and optimized recovery for all patients.
Haan et al. (Tue,) studied this question.