Interactive Digital Visualization Counseling for Lifestyle Change in Patients at Risk of Cardiovascular Diseases:...

Area of Science:

• Digital health and cardiovascular disease (CVD) prevention.
• Personalized medicine and patient-centered care (PCC).
• Feasibility of digital interventions in primary care.

Background:

• Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of mortality, necessitating effective primary prevention strategies.
• Digital health tools offer accessible methods for monitoring health indicators and supporting lifestyle changes.
• Visualizing health data can enhance patient understanding and healthcare communication.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of CVD risk visualization (Petal-X) and continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) on lifestyle changes and perception of person-centered care (PCC).
• To assess the effectiveness of these digital tools, alone or in combination, in patients at increased risk of CVD.

Main Methods:

• A 4-arm, single-blind, 2x2 factorial randomized controlled feasibility trial.
• 101 participants completed a 6-month follow-up, randomized to Petal-X + CGM, CGM only, Petal-X only, or standard care.
• Primary outcomes included healthy lifestyle (HLPCQ) and perception of PCC (PCPI-SU); secondary outcomes included SCORE2, anthropometrics, and biological age.

Main Results:

• Healthy lifestyle and PCC scores improved across all groups, with no statistically significant differences between arms.
• The domain of daily routine showed the highest baseline and improved lifestyle scores.
• Shared decision-making was the highest-rated domain for PCC perception across all groups.

Conclusions:

• While healthy lifestyle and perceived PCC scores improved, interventions did not yield statistically significant between-group differences.
• CVD risk visualization (Petal-X) shows potential for increasing patient awareness and involvement in care planning.
• Larger, longer trials are necessary to optimize digital tools for lifestyle change and confirm their efficacy.