Risk factor control and treatment compliance in the following months after stroke are often poor. We aim to validate a digital platform for smartphones designed to raise awareness in patients about the need to perform healthy lifestyle changes, improve communication with medical staff and increase treatment compliance
Methods:
Farmalarm is an app for smartphones designed to increase stroke awareness by: medication visual alerts and compliance control, chat communication with medical staff, sharing didactic video files, exercise monitoring... Stroke patients discharged home were screened for participation and divided in two groups: to follow the FARMALARM program during 3-4 weeks or standard of care follow-up. We determined risk factor control goals at 90 days in all patients
Results:
During 16 months, from the 457 patients discharged home, 126 (27.6%) were included in the study: Farmalarm n=74; age 57±12, Control n=52, age 59±10. There were no significant differences in baseline characteristics between groups. Patients in Farmalarm group followed the program for 23±6 days after discharge. In Farmalarm group, mean number alarms due to medication intake failure dropped from 68.5% in the first week to 44.6% in the third week (p=0.03). At 90 days, achievement of risk factor control was higher in the FARMALARM group (table). The rate of patients with 4/4 risk factors under control was higher in the FARMALARM group (45.3% Vs 22.5%; p=0.02) (graph) and less patients dropped all medications at 3 months in the Farmalarm group (1.5% Vs 8.16%:p=0.05). A regression model adjusted for age and gender showed that the only variable independently associated with all risk factors under control at 90 days was the use of Farmalarm (OR: 4.7; 95% CI:1.1-6.9;p=0.03).
Conclusion:
In stroke patients discharged home the use of mobile applications to monitor medication compliance and increase stroke awareness is feasible and seems to improve the control of vascular risk factors.
Corrigendum to “The prevalence and risk factors of psychological disturbances of frontline medical staff in China under the COVID-19 epidemic: workload should be concerned”. [Journal of Affective Disorders 2020; 277:510-514.]
