Love My Heart for Women

Name: Love My Heart for Women
Author: Columbia University

Columbia University

EVALUATED

Assessed for usability and quality

For:General Public & EnthusiastsPatients & Caregivers

Free

Download on the App Store

App Summary

Love My Heart for Women is a cardiac rehabilitation app designed to help women assess their unique cardiovascular disease risk and create a personalized healthy lifestyle plan. In a systematic review of commercial cardiac rehabilitation apps (N=9), this tool was one of two top-ranking for quality, functionality, and alignment with evidence-based guidelines, scoring ≥4.0/5.0 for its behavior change features. The associated research concludes that high-quality mobile tools can expand access to cardiac rehabilitation support for patients with cardiovascular disease.

App Screenshots

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Detailed Description

Functionality & Mechanism Developed by cardiologists at Columbia University Medical Center, this system is engineered specifically for women. It facilitates cardiovascular disease risk assessment through a calculator that accounts for female-specific risk factors. Based on this risk profile, the interface then guides the creation of a personalized, structured lifestyle plan—the 'Heart Plan'—designed to mitigate identified health risks. This two-part process of individualized risk calculation followed by actionable plan development forms the core mechanism of the application.

Evidence & Research Context

In a systematic review of commercially available mobile apps for cardiac rehabilitation, this tool was identified as one of two top-ranking applications among the nine that met inclusion criteria.
The evaluation assessed the app on overall quality, functionality, and consistency with American Heart Association (AHA) guidelines for cardiac rehabilitation.
The system received a score of ≥4.0 out of 5 on the Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS) for its behavior change subscale, indicating a robust design for supporting user action.

Intended Use & Scope The application is intended for use by the general public, specifically women seeking to understand and manage their cardiovascular disease risk. Its primary utility is as an educational and preventative health tool for facilitating lifestyle modification. This system does not provide a medical diagnosis and is not a substitute for professional clinical evaluation or care.

Studies & Publications

1 publication

Peer-reviewed research associated with this app.

Evaluation Study

A Structured Review of Commercially Available Cardiac Rehabilitation mHealth Applications Using the Mobile Application Rating Scale

Meddar et al. (2022) · Journal of Cardiopulmonary Rehabilitation and Prevention

Two top-rated apps demonstrated high quality and comprehensive functionality for supporting cardiac rehabilitation.

Purpose: This study systematically evaluated the quality and functionalities of patient-facing, commercially available mobile health (mHealth) apps for cardiac rehabilitation (CR). Methods: We performed our search in two of the most widely used commercial mobile app stores: Apple iTunes Appstore and Google Play Store (Android apps). Six search terms were used to query relevant CR apps: "cardiac rehabilitation," "heart disease and remote therapy," "heart failure exercise," "heart therapy and cardiac recovery," "cardiac recovery," and "heart therapy." App quality was evaluated using the Mobile Application Rating Scale (MARS). App functionality was evaluated using the IQVIA functionality scale, and app content was evaluated against the American Heart Association guidelines for CR. Apps meeting our inclusion criteria were downloaded and evaluated by two to three reviewers, and interclass correlations between reviewers were calculated. Results: We reviewed 3121 apps and nine apps met our inclusion criteria. On average, the apps scored a 3.0 on the MARS (5-point Likert scale) for overall quality. The two top-ranking mHealth apps for CR for all three quality, functionality, and consistency with evidence-based guidelines were My Cardiac Coach and Love My Heart for Women, both of which scored ≥4.0 for behavior change. Conclusion: Overall, the quality and functionality of free apps for mobile CR was high, with two apps performing the best across all three quality categories. High-quality CR apps are available that can expand access to CR for patients with cardiovascular disease.

In the Media

App Targets No. 1 Killer of Women

Columbia University cardiologists Dr. Sonia Tolani and Dr. Natalie A. Bello developed "Love My Heart for Women" to address heart disease awareness among women, using a 12-question risk calculator that accounts for women-specific factors like pregnancy complications and early menopause. "A large number of womenâabout 80 percent of usâhave at least one risk factor for heart disease, but only 16 percent of us have had a discussion with our health care provider about those risks," Dr. Tolani says. The app creates personalized Heart Plans with realistic goals and is available in the Apple app store with Android availability coming soon.

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