Mobile app and personalized text messages to help people manage chronic heart failure
Official title: iCardia4HF: A multi-component mHealth app and tailored text-messaging intervention to promote self-care adherence and improve outcomes in patients with chronic heart failure
Funded at University of Illinois at Chicago · NIH-11326341 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project combines smartphone apps, connected devices, and tailored text messages to help people with chronic heart failure stick to medications, monitor symptoms, and stay active.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Illinois at Chicago NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Chicago, UNITED STATES) |
| Project start | April 14, 2023 |
| Project end | March 31, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $655,171 |
| NIH project number | 5R01HL168376-04 |
| Project ID | NIH-11326341 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Adults with chronic heart failure who struggle with daily self-care and who own or can use a smartphone and accept receiving text messages are the best fit.
✕Less likely to help
People without reliable smartphone access, those who prefer only in-person care, or those with unstable heart failure needing urgent medical treatment may not benefit from this program.
What this research studies
You would use three consumer mobile health apps plus connected devices (like a scale or activity monitor) alongside individually tailored text messages that remind and coach you on self-care. The program tracks weight, symptoms, activity, and blood pressure and sends messages to support taking medications, following a low-sodium diet, daily weighing, and being active. It is designed to be accessible in the community and reach people who have trouble attending in-person programs because of cost or distance. The research team will compare outcomes for people using the apps and texts to see if self-care and health results improve and hospital visits decrease.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this approach could make day-to-day self-care easier and reduce hospital stays for people with heart failure.
How similar studies have gone: Some prior mobile-health and text-message programs have shown promise for improving self-care, but combining multiple consumer apps with tailored texts for heart failure is relatively new and not yet proven.
Where this research is happening
-
University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Kitsiou, Spyros — University of Illinois at Chicago
- Study coordinator: Kitsiou, Spyros
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.