Preventative VS Reactive Care: Stroke and Heart Disease

“An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure” Benjamin Franklin famously advised fire-threatened Philadelphians in 1736. This is reflected in the global healthcare delivery efforts which have been dramatically accelerated in the last year.

What is preventative care?
Simply put, preventative care is healthcare that prevents illness rather than treating a condition which has already developed. The goal of preventative care is to help people stay healthy; here at B-Secur, we believe this can be done by putting a greater level of control over health and wellness into the hands of consumers and clinicians through wearable technology.

Preventative VS reactive healthcare
Right now, we are experiencing one of the greatest reactive healthcare events in our history as we fight Covid-19. The extra pressure on our healthcare system highlights why now more than ever it is important to relieve additional stressors through preventative measures.

Preventative care enables a mechanism to reduce the burden during normal times so that next time we experience a crisis like this, we might have the bandwidth to handle things without the same impact on our lives.

The heart disease and stroke epidemic

More than 868,000 Americans die of heart disease or stroke every year—that’s one-third of all deaths. These diseases take an economic toll, as well, costing our health care system $214 billion per year and causing $138 billion in lost productivity on the job.

May is #strokeawarenessmonth which aims to increase the awareness of stroke risk factors, recognising signs of stroke and providing information on atrial fibrillation. There is a common misconception that strokes only affect elderly people, when in actual fact stokes can happen to anyone and at any stage of their life.

If you have atrial fibrillation, you are five times more likely to have a stroke. And atrial fibrillation contributes to just under 20% of all strokes in the UK.

While it might not be possible to prevent atrial fibrillation developing, a healthy lifestyle can lower the risk. Lifestyle changes from regular exercise to reducing stress levels, can help to avoid some of the triggers.

Leveraging technology to support preventative care
Healthcare is rapidly shifting away from a traditional doctor-centric treatment model to an open consumer-driven movement. The public’s greater awareness of the impact of lifestyle behaviours, combined with technology that allows individuals to track behaviour and other metrics, has led to a broader interest in preventive health and wellness.

Building on the momentum of telehealth and remote monitoring experienced in the last year, wearables are providing a preventative approach to individual health and wellness. The advantage of wearables is that a user has access to the device to take recordings and monitor their health 24 /7.

With EKG becoming more prevalent, you don’t have to book an appointment and try and get a Holter monitor – your device provides enough evidence to start that clinical journey. In the case of heart disease and stroke prevention, this opportunity to generate a health summary including heart rate, physical activity, and trends creates a comprehensive personalised care plan that the patient can control and the clinician can track.