The efficacy of a mobile phone application to improve adherence to treatment and self-management in people with chronic respiratory disease in Romanian population – a pilot study

BACKGROUND: Many studies assessed the effect of mobile phone applications on self-management outcomes in patients with asthma, but all of them presented variable results. In this paper. we examined the effect of a mobile phone application on self-management and disease control in Romanian population. METHODS: This study included 93 patients diagnosed with asthma that were recalled every three months for a year for assessment and treatment. Patients were divided into two groups. The first group included patients that received treatment, and the second group received treatment and also used the smartphone application. Number of exacerbations and asthma control test (ACT) were recorded. RESULTS: The ACT score was significantly higher for asthma patients using also the mobile application than for the patients using the treatment alone, for all the evaluation moments (Mann-Whitney U test, p < 0.001). Also, we found significant differences between the ACT score with-in each group, observing a significant improvement of the score between evaluations and baseline (related-samples Friedman’s test with Bonferroni correction, p < 0.001). When considering the exacerbations rate, significantly less patients using the application presented exacerbations, 10.30% vs. 46.30% (Pearson Chi-square test, X(2) (1) = 13.707, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Our study indicates that smartphone applications are an effective way to improve asthma control and self-management when used continually in our population. We found significant positive effects in disease control and exacerbation frequency.