PhD Scholar National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), S.A.S Nagar, India, India
Background: Digital health interventions have the potential to improve the accessibility and delivery of interventions to enhance the long-term secondary prevention of cardiovascular diseases. However, there is no evidences of their clinical significance.
Objectives: This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of digital health interventions to enhance medication adherence and risk factor modification in individuals with coronary heart disease
Methods: A systematic search was performed on electronic databases like PubMed and Embase from inception till December 2022. Randomized controlled trials reporting digital health interventions to promote risk factor modification or medication adherence were included. Medication adherence and risk factors were considered as primary and secondary outcomes. Data analysis was performed in RStudio by using random-effects models to provide pooled odds ratio and 95% confidence interval (CI). Subgroup meta-analysis were performed to assess the variation of adherence across different digital health interventions
Results: Eleven studies were included with participants (N= 8544) at the mean (SD) age of 61.4 (10.02). 6 of the 11 studies used SMS text messages, 3 of the 11 used smartphone applications, and 2 used mail-out and phone calls as reminders for medication adherence. The pooled analysis of 8544 participants showed a significant improvement in medication adherence with digital health interventions (OR:1.68; 95%CI: 0.87-3.25; I2= 83%). Subgroup analysis showed a significant improvement in adherence for SMS text messaging (OR:2.82; 95%CI: 0.65-12.33; I2=88%) and smartphone applications (OR:1.52; 95%CI:0.89-2.61; I2=72%).
Conclusions: Digital Health Interventions have increased the odds of adherence when compared with usual care. This study may serve as a springboard for future research in the rapidly expanding field of digital health to provide a potential solution to medication nonadherence issues.
