Abstract
Recent epidemiological evidence indicates that chronic degenerative diseases, notably cardiovascular, represent the major toll in terms of death and of impaired quality of life. Recent estimates indicate that a small increase in financial resources in a number of clinical cases may be sufficient to minimize the consequences of elevated cardiovascular risk per individual. The observation that lifestyle choices, and in particular increased physical exercise, might strongly impact cardiovascular risk, suggests a redesign of preventive strategies, based on the combination of pharmacological and behavioral interventions. Following our recent experience with the INteractive teleConsultation network for worldwide healthcAre Services (INCAS) system, we designed a simpler point-to-point telehealth infrastructure, to be employed in cardiovascular risk reduction programs, predicting a high level of acceptance from the population, at the cost of very limited investment. This model was tested on 181 subjects (ages 18–80 years) in the Italian mountain village of Esino Lario. These subjects underwent a screening test to evaluate arrhythmia and cardiometabolic risks (arrhythmias were found in 14% of subjects, systolic arterial pressure was observed in 43% of subjects above 140 mm Hg, diastolic arterial pressure in 31% above 90 mm Hg). This study demonstrates the feasibility of a scaled-down telehealth application particularly suited to cardiovascular prevention in remote areas, such as in mountain villages.
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