Patients want digital follow-up
The study that shows this is part of the REMEDY project, ReMonit. It is a research study with patients with the chronic disease axial spondyloarthritis. The disease leads to inflammation that causes pain and stiffness in the back.
Since the disease can progress, most patients need long-term follow-up.
A total of 242 patients from Diakonhjemmet Hospital participated in the ReMonit study . All participants were treated with immunosuppressive medications, had low disease activity, and little pain and stiffness in their backs.
Randomly divided into three groups
After drawing lots, they were randomly assigned to one of three groups:
1) Regular follow-up with attendance at the hospital once every six months.
2) Digital home follow-up.
3) Patient-directed follow-up, where patients decide for themselves when they need help from healthcare professionals.
Almost everyone wants digital home monitoring
At the very beginning of the study, all patients were asked about their attitude towards digital home monitoring. A full 96 percent wanted this.
The patients in groups 2 and 3 regularly answered questions about complaints from the disease in an app, and we also investigated whether the patients followed up on the reporting, says researcher Emil Eirik Kvernberg Thomassen.
Self-reporting via app worked well for most people
Patients in the digital home monitoring and patient-directed digital monitoring groups downloaded an app to report data on disease activity.
They were asked to report either monthly or every three months for a period of 18 months.
– The proportion who regularly reported their health data was impressively high, says Thomassen.
In the group that received digital home follow-up, patients reported on average 88 percent of the times. In the group with patient-directed follow-up, the proportion reporting was 83 percent.
Personalized follow-up and disease management
– The findings indicate that patients with this type of disease are both willing and able to use digital solutions to follow up on their condition. We believe that this can ultimately contribute to increased coping with the disease and more personalized follow-up, emphasizes Thomassen.
The study showed that there were no clear connections between the patients' background or health status and how often they reported health information.
– In other words, it doesn't matter if you are young or old – most patients followed up well, regardless, says Thomassen.
He further says that this suggests that digital home monitoring may be feasible for a broad patient group. It is nevertheless worth noting that all patients in this study were well treated with little discomfort at the start of the study, but that we do not know whether such monitoring is suitable for those with a lot of discomfort from the disease, he emphasizes.
New insights into the use of digital health technology
The results from the study help increase understanding of how digital technology can become part of the treatment and follow-up of chronic diseases, such as axial spondyloarthritis.
Thomassen hopes that these findings can contribute to better design of digital home follow-up and that this type of follow-up is used more in health services.
– I encourage more research to find out the long-term effects of such treatment, says Emil K. Thomassen.
Reference:
Emil Erik Kvernberg Thomassen et al.: Patients with axial spondyloarthritis reported willingness to use remote care and showed high adherence to electronic patient-reported outcome measures: an 18-month observational study . Rheumatol Int, 2024. doi.org/10.1007/s00296-024-05673-7
