Why the study?
Depression and anxiety harm outcomes in heart disease, but evidence on the efficacy of digital health interventions to remotely diagnose, monitor, and treat them remains scarce.
Do digital health interventions improve depression and anxiety in patients with cardiac disease?
Do digital health interventions improve depression and anxiety in patients with cardiac disease?
Telemonitoring and virtual reality relaxation interventions appear beneficial for managing depression and anxiety in patients with heart failure and other cardiac diseases.
DHIs may reduce depression symptoms in cardiac patients; leaves open optimal components and long-term outcomes pending larger trials.
BACKGROUND Depression and anxiety have a detrimental effect on the health outcomes of patients with heart disease. Digital health interventions (DHIs) could offer a solution to remotely diagnose, monitor and treat depression and anxiety in patients with heart disease, but evidence of its efficacy remains scarce. This review summarizes the latest data about the impact of DHIs on depression/anxiety in patients with cardiac disease. OBJECTIVE This review summarizes the latest data about the impact of DHIs on depression/anxiety in patients with cardiac disease. METHODS Articles from 2000 to 2021 in English were searched through electronic databases (PubMed, Cochrane Library, Embase). Articles were included if they incorporated a randomized controlled trial design for patients with cardiac disease and used DHIs in which depression or anxiety was set as outcomes. A narrative systematic review was performed. RESULTS After removing duplicates, 1675 articles were included and the screening identified a total of 17 articles. Results indicated that telemonitoring systems for heart failure (HF) patients, both with or without involving a psychological intervention, have a beneficial effect on depression/anxiety. Virtual reality (VR) technologies including relaxation exercises for patients with cardiac disease have a beneficial influence on anxiety. Results on internet- or cell phone-based intervention for patients with a coronary heart disease or internet-based intervention for patients with implantable cardioverter defibrillator were inconclusive. CONCLUSIONS Telemonitoring systems for HF and VR relaxation have a beneficial effect on depression and/or anxiety. Regarding telemonitoring for HF, this effect was reached even without incorporating a specific psychological intervention. These results illustrate the future potential for cardiac telemonitoring systems and DHIs for mental health.
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Kaihara et al. (2021) studied this question.
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