https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-025-03511-2

https://english.news.cn/20250226/825d630ea34444819c6447e2d63cd74e/c.html

Chen Minglong, a senior physician of the Department of Cardiology at Jiangsu Provincial People’s Hospital, has proposed an integrated atrial fibrillation (AF) management approach relying on rural physicians and telemedicine. The program could significantly reduces the incidence of major cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events as well as the risk of cardiovascular mortality, offering a potential solution for chronic disease management in areas with limited medical resources globally.

Rural AF patients are predominantly elderly, often with low economic income, weak health awareness, and insufficient family support, which poses challenges for chronic disease management. To address this situation, the research team proposed an innovative management model centered on a telemedicine platform backed by AF experts and led by rural doctors. The telemedicine platform provides real-time expert consultations and remote diagnosis to help rural doctors resolve clinical issues, while also offering continuous education and training to enhance their professional knowledge and skills.

In addition, the platform monitors the quality of medical services to ensure rural doctors follow evidence-based clinical guidelines and establishes a patient data repository to support more efficient patient tracking and management.

The study included 1,039 AF patients over 65 years old from 30 village clinics in the Jiangdu District. The 36-month follow-up results showed that the new management model reduced the incidence of major cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events by 36 percent and lowered the risk of cardiovascular mortality by 50 percent compared to the traditional management model.