THE IMPACT OF USING A SMARTPHONE-BASED APPLICATION ON MEDICATION ADHERENCE IN PEOPLE WITH HEART FAILURE

 Medication adherence in patients with heart failure is low and have a negative effect on the clinical treatment process. Adherence can increase the burden on the health system and one of the goals of care in patients with heart failure is to improve their medication adherence. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of using a smartphone-based application on medication adherence in people with heart failure.

This is a randomized clinical trial with control group in Imam Hospital, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences in 1397. In this study, 120 patients with heart failure hospitalized in cardiac care unit were randomly selected and randomly assigned quadruple blocks without replacement were allocated to two groups of control (n = 60) and intervention (n = 60). In this study, the patients in the control group were under the current care of the hospital. An Android-based interactive smartphone application developed in partnership with the developer, and its management panel site was designed. Patients in the intervention group, in addition to common care, received a smartphone-capable application and used this application every day for 3 months. Data were analyzed by SPSS software version 16 using independent and paired t-test, Chi-square, Fisher's exact analysis and Cohen effect size.

 Based on the results, compared to the control group, the drug follow-up score of patients with heart failure after using the smartphone-based application was significantly increased (P <0.001) and the effect size was 3.24 with a confidence interval 95% (3.81, 2.68). Changes in medication adherence in the intervention group were significantly more than the control group, which means improving the medication adherence of patients with heart failure in the intervention group compared to the control group.

Using a smartphone-based application can improve medication adherence in people with heart failure. Based on the results of this study, the use of applications to promote medication adherence and management of patients with heart failure is suggested.