More
than 70,000 people worldwide are suffering from cystic fibrosis, suggests the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Patient Registry. Approximately 1,000 new cases are diagnosed each year in the United States
alone.
Bluetooth-Enabled 'eRapid' Shows Promise for Cystic Fibrosis Treatment Adherence
Adherence to inhaled and oral therapies for cystic fibrosis
patients is discouragingly low, ranging 31-35% for inhaled
antibiotics. Programs to enhance adherence have had mixed success.
‘With Bluetooth technology there is remarkable improvement in adherence to inhaled and oral therapies for cystic fibrosis patients.’
A new
pilot study from Ventura County Medical Center in Ventura, California,
shows remarkable improvement in adherence using Bluetooth technology.
For 28 days, patients used a Bluetooth-enabled medication delivery
and monitoring tool called eRapid. The clinic used the technology to
gain rapid feedback on nebulizer use and used the data to reward
patients for adherence as a depression intervention method.
Results not
only showed 80% improvement in adherence but also 30%
improvement in measures of airflow limitation and frequency of flare-ups
of disease.
"eRapid decreases miscommunication and misunderstanding between the
patient and the provider by replacing an error-prone self-reporting
method with real-time data," says Dr. Chris Landon, lead researcher.
"Ongoing assessment of the data by the health care team allows for
active engagement between the patient and provider promoting shared
decision making in individualized therapy and cognitive behavioral
interventions."
Source: Eurekalert
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