Mobile monitoring of asthma ‘no better’ than traditional methods
pharmafile | March 26, 2012 | News story | Medical Communications | BMJ, Mobile monitoring, apps, asthma, smartphone
Mobile phone monitoring of asthma is ‘more expensive and no better than paper monitoring’, says new research.
Findings published in the British Medical Journal show that patients who used mobile phones to monitor their asthma, did not improve control of the disease when compared to paper monitoring.
It also found that the use of mobile phone monitoring was considerably more expensive, leading researchers to conclude that it was not as cost effective overall.
The researchers who were funded by Asthma UK, randomised 288 patients with poorly controlled asthma to use either the t+ Asthma app on their smartphone, or the traditional paper monitoring method.
The app enabled twice-daily recording and transmission of symptoms, drug use, and peak flow. Patients in the control group were asked to keep a paper diary, recording the same data as the mobile group, again twice daily.
They wanted to see whether using the app would increase self-management of the patient’s asthma, but the results showed that there was no significant difference in the change in asthma control or self-efficacy between the two groups.
It was also much more expensive for the smartphone group given the costs of mobile phone technology, demonstrating that using paper monitoring was the better option.
The authors said: “In people with poorly controlled asthma, the mobile phone based model of monitoring did not offer any advantages over and above paper based care when guideline standard clinical support services were provided to both groups.
“While mobile phone technology will appeal to some people, it is not the crucial ingredient and carries cost implications.”
This challenges a recent systematic review, which concluded that telehealthcare in asthma could have a role in reducing hospital admissions in high-risk patients and in those with severe disease.
Some studies have suggested that those with poorly controlled asthma might be more ready to comply with novel monitoring than those with already well-controlled asthma – but this study did not find a beneficial effect in this group.
A game changer?
This could be an unnerving moment for those developing disease monitoring apps – which includes GSK – who has recently launched its ‘MyAsthma’ app featuring a daily personalised plan, and a 30-second asthma control test.
One of the more high profile advocates of this approach is the UK’s Department of Health. Last month it stated it wants GPs to ‘prescribe’ apps to patients, and is consulting about what new apps would be best for use in clinical practice.
More research on specific diseases and apps will need to be done, but this new report may cast doubt on the future of such monitoring.
Ben Adams is the reporter for Pharmafocus and InPharm.com and manages the DigiBlog site. He can be contacted via: email or Twitter.
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