It is no secret to anyone that the rapid adoptions of new technologies as well as the advances, in the matter have revealed a revolution and evolution in more than one industry. Although the mobile field is not new, it is one of the most disruptive technological integrations in recent years. And, the health sector is no stranger to this trend, and mobile devices -from smartphones to sophisticated medical tools- currently appear as resources of great value in optimizing the effectiveness and precision of medical work. According to estimates by Allied Market Research, the volume of the mHealth market will grow worldwide from 14.51 billion dollars reached in 2015 to 58.8 billion dollars during 2020.
Besides, mHealth is the term used when you apply mobile device technology to support the practice of medicine. In recent years, this field of research has undergone significant development. So today, you can find phones, tablets, and other devices that are capable of monitoring patients, issuing diagnoses, or treating diseases. If you want to know everything about digital health, in today’s post, we are going to talk about mHealth, and its advantages
Benefits of mHealth
While talking about mobile health, we are talking about a sector in full growth due to the high use of mobile devices in society, since they allow greater accessibility, portability, agility, and ease of use than other technological devices. This fact, linked to the field of health, provides the possibility of innovating and increasing efficiency, as well as reducing costs and improving the quality of care.
Control and self-monitoring
Within this perspective, these devices help to manage and monitor vital signs, exercise level, diet, stress, and the quality of sleep at the end of the day. Thus, a global view of the health and well-being of patients is presented. With regards to health fragility, it is possible to monitor vital signs. Thus, severe cases of sudden death in hypertensive, diabetic, and sedentary people are avoided. When lifestyle change is encouraged, it can provide an extraordinary quality of life.
Referring to the landmark of innovations, it was estimated that in the not-so-distant future, patients’ homes may be monitored by their residents. They will also have communication networks between doctors for data analysis.
Chronic disease control
MHealth applications offer continuous and long-term evaluations to improve and control the picture of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disorders, epilepsy, asthma, and diabetes mellitus (DM) conditions that generate costly expenses for the system. Besides, patients with diabetes mellitus generally need to make decisions and be aware of medications at all times. It is necessary to have control over how many units of insulin are needed when blood glucose changes and also in the restriction of food. As a result, this control can be carried out using standardized devices that guarantee better therapeutic adherence and glycemic control.
Benefit for the pharmaceutical industry
It is essential to note that the pharmaceutical industries need to be in constant research and demonstrate, through evidence-based results, the effectiveness of their medicines. Through mHealth, it is possible to analyze the progression of the disease with greater accuracy through the use of medication. Thus, after proving and approving the medication, the use of these applications provides the supervision of your health condition.
Looking to the future
There is a huge amount of research ahead in the mobile health sector. One of the most exciting proposals is based on nanotechnology. That would allow patients to be monitored 24 hours without the need to be in a hospital. A good example of this is the Proteus Digital Health project, which implants nanosensors in the pills to monitor the patient’s condition and see how the drugs are acting in their body.