A Pilot Study of mDOT for Immunosuppressant Adherence in Adult Liver Transplant Recipients

Johns Hopkins University

Status: Withdrawn

Conditions: Medication Adherence; Liver Transplant

Treatments: Other: mHealth Intervention

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT03515330

IRB00173000

Details and patient eligibility

About

The investigators are interested in whether or not the use of a mobile health (mHealth) application increases the rate of immunosuppressant medication adherence among adult liver transplant recipients. The investigators aim to test this by randomly assigning transplant recipients to the intervention (use of an mHealth app to manage and track their immunosuppression regimen) or control arm (standard of care) upon discharge from their initial transplant hospitalization, and tracking medication adherence over time. The study population will be approximately 50 adult liver transplant recipients at the Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Full description

In adult transplant recipients, poor adherence to immunosuppressant medications carries the risk of graft rejection, post-transplant complications, and increased healthcare costs. In adult liver transplant recipients, adherence to immunosuppressant drugs, as well as to general medical indications (e.g. avoiding alcohol intake), is imperative to short- and long-term outcomes. The rate of non-adherence to immunosuppressant medications in this population varies vastly, with reports ranging from 15-40%. Because of lacking objective and accurate non-adherence measurements, the true implications and prevalence of non-adherence is not yet well understood. Therefore, the investigators believe that mobile health (mHealth) technology has the potential to allow clinicians and researchers to more comprehensively address and understand non-adherence in adult liver transplant recipients. Additionally, an mHealth application with the ability to track symptoms, side effects, and alcohol cravings could provide clinicians with valuable information on post-transplant care.

We will use a mobile health platform that enables users to track dose-by-dose medication adherence through asynchronous, video directly observed therapy (DOT). This helps patients take their medication as prescribed and gives providers the assurance that their patients are supported and successful in treatment. DOT is the practice of watching a patient take every dose of medicine in-person, and has typically only been done in extreme cases because it can be both costly and burdensome: DOT is the standard of care for Tuberculosis treatment and has proven high-adherence rates. Through mHealth technology, DOT can be used more broadly and without added burden; emocha's technology allows this through enabling patients to use their mobile application to view their regimen, record themselves taking every dose of their medication, report side effects or symptoms, visualize their treatment progress, and access educational content. This information is encrypted and transmitted to a HIPAA-secure web portal for providers to review. The aim of this study is to conduct a randomized control trial to compare medication adherence between patients who use the mHealth application against controls who do not.

Sex: All

Ages: 22+ years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Greater than or equal to 22 years of age
• Receive a liver transplant at Johns Hopkins Hospital

Exclusion criteria

• Non-English speaking liver transplant recipients

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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0 participants in 2 patient groups

Standard of Care

No Intervention group

Description:

Participants in the control arm will be instructed to take their immunosuppressant medications as prescribed and attend required follow-up as is standard of care, and will not receive the mHealth application.

mHealth Intervention

Experimental group

Description:

Participants in the intervention arm will receive the mHealth app either while they are an inpatient post-transplant, or at their first post-transplant clinic visit. Study personnel will assist participants assigned to the mHealth intervention arm with downloading the application and explain its functioning. Participants will then use the application to aid in immunosuppressant medication adherence post-transplant.

Treatment:

Other: mHealth Intervention