Electronic health strategies to improve medication adherence in patients with cardiometabolic disease: current status and future directions

Abstract

Purpose of reviewEnabled by widespread technological advancements, electronic health (eHealth) strategies have expanded rapidly over the last decade, presenting opportunities to support self-management including medication adherence for cardiometabolic disease control. eHealth can minimize access barriers to medications, enable timely assessment and shared decision-making, and provide medication reminders and health data feedback. This review summarizes current evidence for effectiveness of eHealth strategies for improving medication adherence in patients with hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and/or hyperlipidemia, and identifies priorities for future research. Recent findingsCurrent research supports the effectiveness of eHealth strategies to improve medication adherence and clinical outcomes for cardiometabolic disease. Although patient acceptability of eHealth strategies is generally high, engagement may decline over time. In addition, differences in effectiveness across intervention characteristics and sociodemographic groups are understudied, limiting generalizability and tailoring of interventions to local health system resources, culture, and patient needs or preferences. SummaryeHealth is a promising tool for addressing low medication adherence. Further work incorporating rigorous evaluation, assessment of patient engagement over time and effectiveness of intervention characteristics and components, and a health equity lens addressing eHealth use in vulnerable groups will increase understanding of the full potential of eHealth for improving medication adherence in diverse patients with cardiometabolic disease.

Effectiveness of eHealth Interventions in Improving Medication Adherence Among Patients With Cardiovascular Disease: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…In addition, our research targets middle-aged and older individuals, with an average age of 56.47, who possess lower health information literacy and find it challenging to keep pace with technological advancements [ 61 ]. Coupled with the complex interfaces and small font sizes in app interventions, this renders it challenging for them to effectively engage with these apps [ 62 ]. Therefore, designers of eHealth services should aim to develop more user-friendly interfaces and establish clearer information retrieval models by incorporating features such as larger fonts, voice recognition functionality, and simplified navigation.…”