There is potential for mHealth tools to better facilitate adherence to chronic disease management , but the evidence supporting its current effectiveness is mixed .
BACKGROUND Adherence to chronic disease management is critical to achieving improved health outcomes , quality of life , and cost-effective health care .
As the burden of chronic diseases continues to grow globally , so does the impact of non-adherence .
Mobile technologies are increasingly being used in health care and public health practice ( mHealth ) for patient communication , monitoring , and education , and to facilitate adherence to chronic diseases management .
OBJECTIVE We conducted a systematic review of the literature to evaluate the effectiveness of mHealth in supporting the adherence of patients to chronic diseases management ( " mAdherence " ) , and the usability , feasibility , and acceptability of mAdherence tools and platforms in chronic disease management among patients and health care providers .
A mobile phone short message service improves perceived control of asthma: a randomized controlled trial.
OBJECTIVE Mobile phone short message service ( SMS ) has been suggested as a potentially powerful tool to improve asthma outcomes , and it can overcome external barriers such as time and distance to participate education programs . We wanted to know whether SMS can help to overcome intrinsic barriers such as perceived control of asthma ( PCA ) . SUBJECTS AND METHODS One hundred fifty out patients with asthma were r and omly assigned to the control , traditional , and SMS groups . Patients in all groups received verbal education based on the Global Initiative for Asthma , and patients in the traditional group received additional individualized asthma action plan for self-management with peak expiratory flow monitoring and recording asthma diary , while patients in the SMS group received additional daily SMS reminders on their mobile phone . The six-item PCA Question naire ( PCAQ-6 ) , St and ard Asthma-Specific Quality of Life [ AQLQ(S ) ] , spirometry , blood and induced sputum cell count , follow-up compliance rate , medicine compliance rate , and emergency department ( ED ) visits data were collected at the initial visit and at 12 weeks . RESULTS In total , 71 participants completed the trial for analysis .  Patients ' PCAQ-6 score was significantly increased in the SMS and traditional groups ( p<0.001 ) after 12 weeks , and the change of patients ' PCAQ-6 score in the SMS group was higher than in the traditional group ( p=0.018 ) . Patients in the SMS group had the highest AQLQ(S ) score and follow-up rate after 12 weeks . The change in PCAQ-6 score was associated with change in AQLQ(S ) score ( r=0.442 ) . Patients in all groups had better forced expiratory volume in 1 s ( FEV1 % ) and fewer ED visits after 12 weeks , but no significant differences were found among the three groups in the changes of FEV1 % and blood and induced sputum eosinophil counts and neutrophil counts . CONCLUSIONS SMS can improve PCA , and it has a greater advantage in improving follow-up rate and asthma-specific quality of life than traditional programs
There is potential for mHealth tools to better facilitate adherence to chronic disease management , but the evidence supporting its current effectiveness is mixed .
BACKGROUND Adherence to chronic disease management is critical to achieving improved health outcomes , quality of life , and cost-effective health care .
As the burden of chronic diseases continues to grow globally , so does the impact of non-adherence .
Mobile technologies are increasingly being used in health care and public health practice ( mHealth ) for patient communication , monitoring , and education , and to facilitate adherence to chronic diseases management .
OBJECTIVE We conducted a systematic review of the literature to evaluate the effectiveness of mHealth in supporting the adherence of patients to chronic diseases management ( " mAdherence " ) , and the usability , feasibility , and acceptability of mAdherence tools and platforms in chronic disease management among patients and health care providers .