Cardiovascular disease causes more deaths worldwide than any other disease. In 2015 alone, nearly 18 million people died from cardiovascular disease. And according to the World Health Organization, most cardiovascular disease can be prevented or successfully treated by eliminating risk factors such as smoking and tobacco use, obesity, and physical inactivity. [1]
Which is why cardiologists are devising methods for more whole-heartedly bringing precision medicine to their patients. Many of the factors that contribute to a patient’s heart health, such as physical activity and blood pressure, are more readily available thanks to the latest generation of wearable devices and the data they are able to capture. And it appears as if patients are more willing to share these data.
By curating patient supplied data from these devices, integrating it with other lifestyle and ethnographic information, researchers can use machine learning to identify common data points that are associated with stroke or other adverse cardiac events. [2]
There are many exciting applications, and the American Heart Association is investing resources to integrate precision medicine research into cardiovascular care via the Precision Medicine Platform (Precision.heart.org).
Click here to learn more in an article by Jennifer L. Hall, PhD, Chief of the American Heart Association’s Institute for Precision Cardiovascular Medicine.
Reference List
[1] http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs317/en/
[2] https://www.rdmag.com/article/2018/03/fueled-data-cardiology-ripe-precision-medicine-research
[3] Image courtesy of https://investor.fitbit.com/press/press-kit/.
