Clinical trial NCT03154229: Evaluation of a mHealth Platform for Diarrheal Disease Decision-support
Official title: The Evaluation of a mHealth Platform for Diarrheal Disease Decision-support in Hospitals: a Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Diarrhea
Lead sponsor: University of Florida
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh
name: National Institutes of Health (NIH)
name: Fogarty International Center of the National Institute of Health
First posted: 2017-05-16
Enrollment: 4975
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 2
Standard ages: CHILD
ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Intervention model description: Cluster randomized controlled trial.
Primary purpose: TREATMENT

Brief summary: The study hypothesis is that clinical decision-support on a smartphone for the management of diarrheal disease will improve the assessment of dehydration, reduce IV fluid usage, and increase guideline adherence for the use of zinc and antibiotics. To test this hypothesis we will conduct a cluster randomized controlled trial in the diarrhea wards of 10 hospitals in Bangladesh. A 6-week pre-intervention period will establish a baseline at all sites, and in the intervention, hospitals will be randomized to use a paper versus smartphone adaptation of the WHO guidelines by the admitting physician. Inclusion criteria are patients 2 months and older that have uncomplicated acute diarrheal disease; estimated enrollment is 7893 patients. The primary outcome measure is use of IV fluids. This project may have broad impact that will include opportunities to provide improved decision-support for the assessment of dehydration, decreased use intravenous fluids and more prudent use of antibiotics.

Detailed description: Technology is making possible new approaches to overcome old public health challenges. Cellular networks are now ubiquitous in resource-poor settings and offer new opportunities for high-yield interventions for both chronic and acute diseases. We are specifically interested in developing mHealth solutions for diarrheal disease for two reasons. The first reason is that diarrheal disease globally remains the second leading cause of death for children less than 5 years of age. Barriers to combat this problem include poor adherence to guidelines for rehydrating children and outbreaks often outpace current epidemiological tools. The second reason is that diarrheal diseases in a setting like Bangladesh, including cholera outbreaks, are a model system to develop and test mHealth solutions that can be adapted to more complex chronic and acute diseases in Bangladesh and globally.

In partnership with the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b; primary collaborator) and the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control, Research (IEDCR) within the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in Bangladesh, we propose to compare a paper-based versus a smartphone-based decision-support tool in a cluster randomized controlled trial (cRCT) to determine the impact of the method of decision-support on the use of IV fluids (primary outcome) and indicated medications (secondary outcomes). The smartphone tool is an adaptation of the paper-based World Health Organization guidelines, and is called the 'Rehydration Calculator.' The cRCT will be conducted collaboratively between the icddr,b and government hospitals (N=10) in Bangladesh over 4.5 months per site. A 6-week pre-intervention period will establish a baseline at all sites, and in the intervention, hospitals will be randomized to use the paper versus smartphone tool by the admitting physician. Inclusion criteria are patients 2 months and older that have uncomplicated acute diarrheal disease; estimated enrollment is 7893 patients. Standard of care will be practiced at all sites, with the exception of the decision-support tool(s) in the interventional period. The primary outcome measure is use of IV fluids. This project may have broad impact that will include opportunities to provide improved decision-support for the assessment of dehydration, decrease intravenous fluid use and improve antibiotic stewardship.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Acute uncomplicated diarrhea (less than 7 days with at least 3 loose stools in the last 24 hours)
* Age greater than or equal to two months.

Exclusion Criteria:

* No diarrhea
* Complicated diarrheal disease (e.g. e.g. sepsis, meningitis, convulsions, electrolyte imbalance, myocardial infarction, respiratory failure, chronic kidney disease, severe malnutrition by clinical measures and mid-upper arm circumference (\<11.5cm for \>= 6 mo to less than 5 years; \<11.0 cm for \>= 2mo to \<6 mo))

Primary outcomes:
measure: Use of IV fluid
timeFrame: Intervention is 3 months per hospital
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Use of zinc
timeFrame: Intervention is 3 months per hospital
measure: Use of indicated antibiotics
timeFrame: Intervention is 3 months per hospital
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Dhaka
country: Bangladesh
facility: International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b)
state: Dhaka Division
Study officials:
affiliation: University of Florida, USA
name: Eric J Nelson, MD PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Haque F, Ball RL, Khatun S, Ahmed M, Kache S, Chisti MJ, Sarker SA, Maples SD, Pieri D, Vardhan Korrapati T, Sarnquist C, Federspiel N, Rahman MW, Andrews JR, Rahman M, Nelson EJ. Evaluation of a Smartphone Decision-Support Tool for Diarrheal Disease Management in a Resource-Limited Setting. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2017 Jan 19;11(1):e0005290. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0005290. eCollection 2017 Jan.
citation: Khan AI, Mack JA, Salimuzzaman M, Zion MI, Sujon H, Ball RL, Maples S, Rashid MM, Chisti MJ, Sarker SA, Biswas D, Hossin R, Bardosh KL, Begum YA, Ahmed A, Pieri D, Haque F, Rahman M, Levine AC, Qadri F, Flora MS, Gurka MJ, Nelson EJ. Electronic decision support and diarrhoeal disease guideline adherence (mHDM): a cluster randomised controlled trial. Lancet Digit Health. 2020 May;2(5):e250-e258. doi: 10.1016/S2589-7500(20)30062-5.