Design and Preliminary Testing of the CardioCare System in Health Checkup Centers: Implementation Report.

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• Cardiovascular Disease Prevention
• Geriatric Health

Background:

• Millions of older adults in China undergo cardiovascular risk screening through health checkups.
• Existing systems lack effective mechanisms to connect high-risk individuals with necessary follow-up preventive care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and assess the CardioCare system, a digital tool designed to bridge the gap in preventive care for high-risk older adults.
• CardioCare integrates a 10-year cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk prediction model with personalized health management.

Main Methods:

• The CardioCare system was implemented in a hospital-based health checkup center in Guangzhou.
• It utilized an established 10-year CVD risk model for automated risk stratification and personalized recommendations.
• Usability testing was conducted with healthcare professionals and preliminary patient engagement was evaluated.

Main Results:

• The CardioCare system was technically feasible and integrated smoothly into the clinical workflow, with positive feedback from physicians and nurses.
• Automated risk stratification and personalized recommendations were successfully generated.
• Despite high-risk identification, patient follow-up attendance was low (8.7%), indicating significant barriers to engagement.

Conclusions:

• Integrating digital CVD risk assessment into health checkups is technically feasible and acceptable to clinicians.
• Risk identification alone is insufficient to drive patient engagement in preventive care.
• Future efforts must focus on structured, multichannel engagement and convenient follow-up models to improve uptake.