A new iPhone-based app may help patients who survived a heart attack to maintain their health and reduce the number of hospital readmissions, according to a study.

The "Corrie" app is the first cardiology app for the Apple CareKit platform and is designed to help patients navigate the hospital discharge process by educating them about heart disease. The app allows them to keep track of medications, follow-up appointments and lifestyle changes needed after a heart attack. "We have found there are many gaps in care in patients recovering from a heart attack," said lead author William Yang, from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, US.

"We wanted to engage patients in their own care, and help them transition from the hospital to home using existing technology," Yang added. Heart attack patients "may suddenly have new doctors and more medical visits, including cardiac rehab, and the app helps them track and centralise all those appointments", he said. The app helps patients to keep track of all their medications, including how much to take and at what time.

It also syncs with the Apple Watch to monitor heart rate and keep track of how much they are walking and with a Bluetooth blood pressure monitor. Yang said the app has also proven useful to patients even while they were still in the hospital as it allows patients to store important medical information on the app. The results were presented at the American College of Cardiology's Cardiovascular Summit in Las Vegas.