Post-Stroke Secondary Prevention With Digital Monitoring

Stroke is the second leading cause of death and a major cause of disability worldwide. In 2019, Disability-Adjusted Life-Years (DALYs) related to stroke was estimated to have reached 143 million. Modifiable stroke risk-factors, which include poor lifestyle habits (tobacco, alcohol and illicit drug abuse, dietary patterns at risk, low physical activity), account for 90 % of the risk of stroke. Stroke complications and the risk of stroke recurrence is highly dependent on the control of these risk factors. Thus, the secondary prevention of stroke requires profound lifestyle modifications including substance use cessation and diet changes. National guidelines for stroke clinical practice advocate an immediate cessation of consumption of all substances but without recommendations on specific therapeutic regimens. Moreover, none address the management of poor coping with stress or mood problems though they are major population attributable risk factors of stroke and constitute major barriers of behavior changes achievement. Yet, post-stroke emotional impairments are frequent, post-stroke depression and anxiety being the most frequent (prevalence is 30% and 25%, respectively). Importantly, independently from stroke, emotional impairments or disorders and Substance Related and Addiction Disorders (SRADs) are frequent comorbid conditions (dual disorders) with debilitating consequences and the interplay between the two conditions makes rehabilitation more complex. This suggests that taking into account stroke patients' mental health status might improve not only the management of post-stroke emotional impairments but also the control of stroke vascular risk factors. Regarding secondary prevention programs focusing on behavioral changes among Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease (CVD) patients, the literature is sparse and studies on smoking cessation are the most widely documented. Despite the risk of smoking after a myocardial infarct or a stroke/Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA), less than half of patients quit smoking after the event or achieve long-term abstinence. To increase treatment adherence and efficacy, besides systematically screening lifestyle habits and evaluating the patients' mental health and motivation to change in clinical routine, experts in the domain emphasize the need to: * start delivering treatment as early as possible, ideally during hospitalization; * tailor the intensity of the treatment (combination of pharmacological medications +/- behavioral intervention; frequency of the follow-up/contacts) according to the risk profile of each patient, particularly depending on the level of dependence and the presence of comorbid emotional difficulties/psychiatric disorders. After hospital discharge, in standard care, the follow-up visit is scheduled 4 to 6 months post-stroke. Knowing that the vast majority of smoking relapses occur in the weeks following stroke, it appears that this period is of high risk for missing the goal of stroke secondary prevention. Therefore, new approaches are urgently needed that would allow for the day-to-day examination of clinical change in the immediate days and weeks following discharge from the stroke acute-care unit to optimize the patient's recovery and quality of life. The potential pivotal role of eHealth development has been advocated by the World Health Organization, which considers e-Health as a cost-effective and secure use of information and communication technologies (ICT). Used in the context of stroke secondary prevention, eHealth technologies should give each patient the opportunity to describe his/her own experiences and symptoms and the contexts of daily life in which they occur that may constitute negative factors for post-stroke recovery. Post-stroke management would thus be optimized through a person-centered, intense and multidisciplinary care program. Investigators believe apTeleCare would allow for such a day-to-day examination of clinical change in the immediate days and weeks following discharge from the stroke acute-care unit. It offers the possibility not only to closely monitor patients' experiences and symptoms and the contexts of daily life in which they occur, but also to inform the clinical team in real-time via specific alerts that depend on the type and level of difficulties the patients encounter for adopting the expected changes in their lifestyle