Patients want digital follow-up

27.08.2024

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 the participants were treated with immunosuppressive drugs, had low disease activity and little pain and stiffness in the back.

Randomly divided into three groups

After drawing lots, they were randomly divided into one of three groups:

1) Usual follow-up with attendance at the hospital once every six months.

2) Digital home monitoring.

3) Patient-directed follow-up, where the patients themselves decide when they need help from healthcare personnel.

Almost everyone wanted digital home monitoring

At the very start of the study, all patients were asked about their attitude to digital home monitoring. A whopping 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 examined whether the patients followed up the reporting, says researcher Emil Eirik Kvernberg Thomassen.

Self-reporting via app worked well for most people

The patients in the groups for digital remote monitoring and patient-directed, remote monitoring 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 remote monitoring, the patients reported an average of 88 percent of the time. In the group with patient-directed follow-up, the proportion who reported was 83 per cent.

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 monitor their condition. We believe that, in the long term, this can contribute to increased coping with the disease and a more personalized follow-up, emphasizes Thomassen.

The study showed that there were no clear connections between the patients' background or state of health and how often they reported health information.

- In other words, it doesn't matter whether you are young or old - most patients followed up well, regardless, says Thomassen.

He further says that this indicates that remote monitoring can be feasible for a broadly composed patient group. It is nevertheless worth noting that all the patients in this study were well treated with little discomfort at the start of the study, but that we do not know whether such remote 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 contribute to increasing the 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 a better design of digital remote monitoring and that this type of follow-up will be used more in the health services.

- I encourage more research to find out the long-term effects of such treatment, says Emil K. Thomassen.