Validations Are Piling up on the Efficacy of Digital Health Tools to Combat Chronic Disease

The latest piece of evidence comes from Included Health, which found that its telehealth platform helped lower the blood pressure of patients with hypertension over a 12-month period during the pandemic. The peer-reviewed study was published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings. As the digital health field matures, there’s growing evidence that virtual tools are effective in managing chronic diseases. For instance, in the world of diabetes, digital intervention for this complex disease has been shown to lower A1c levels such that prediabetes patients don’t progress to full-blown type 2 diabetes.

In late January, Hello Heart announced that an independent validation showed that its machine-learning-powered digital cardiac app saved employers money because employees avoided surgeries and invasive procedures. And earlier this week, more evidence emerged — this time through a study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings — that showed that a digital-first approach is very effective in managing hypertension. The peer-reviewed study co-authored by Included Health and Stanford Healthcare found that a large majority of the patient population — 77% of 569 patients — experienced an improvement in either systolic or diastolic blood pressure.