mHealth and the legacy of John Snow

Abstract

On Jan 14, 2018, during a tense final touchdown in a US National Football League playoff game, numerous Apple Watch users received an alert from their device telling them that they were having potentially harmful arrhythmias. Smartphones and wearable technology are increasingly used as public health tools because billions of people worldwide are digital users. In 2020, more than 6 billion people will have smartphone subscriptions. Clinicians and researchers can use these devices to effortlessly monitor patients' health and behaviour indicators in real time.