An mHealth Intervention to Improve Medication Adherence and Health Outcomes

Duke University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Coronary Heart Disease

Treatments: Behavioral: Medication-taking reminders & educational materials; Behavioral: Educational materials

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04703439

Pro00073395_1

Details and patient eligibility

About

Investigators evaluated the efficacy of a pilot-tested mHealth intervention to improving medication adherence and health outcomes among patients with coronary heart disease.

Full description

This was a two-arm parallel randomized controlled trial, in which 116 and 114 participants were assigned to the experimental and control groups, respectively. The mHealth intervention in this study had been pilot tested and tailored. Specifically, the experimental group received a medication-taking reminder every morning via WeChat app and educational materials of coronary heart disease and medication adherence every five days via Message Express app. The control group received only general educational materials, which were irrelevant to coronary heart disease or medication adherence, every 5 days via Message Express app. All participants were diagnosed with coronary heart disease. The specific recruitment criteria of participants had been published in peer-reviewed journal.

Enrollment: 230 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 99 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• (1) had a medical diagnosis of coronary heart disease;
• (2) aged 18 years or older;
• (3) had an antihypertensive medication regimen for 90 days or more from enrollment;
• (4) able to read messages through mobile phone;
• (5) had a mobile phone that could receive messages from WeChat and reminders from Message Express;
• (6) capable of giving his/her own consent; and
• (7) had an electronic blood pressure cuff to check blood pressures and heart rates.

Exclusion criteria

• was enrolled in other research studies

Trial design

Primary purpose: Supportive Care

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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230 participants in 2 patient groups, including a placebo group

Experimental group

Experimental group

Description:

This group consisted of 116 participants who received a medication-taking reminder every morning at a random time between 7-8 am on WeChat app. Also, participants received a piece of educational material every five days at a random time between 8 am and 9 am regarding improving medication adherence and preventing coronary heart disease.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Medication-taking reminders & educational materials

Control group

Placebo Comparator group

Description:

This group consisted of 114 participants who only received a piece of educational material every five days at a random time between 8 am and 9 am. The educational materials sent to this group were general medical information, which were not specifically about improving medication adherence or preventing coronary heart disease.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Educational materials