38% fewer consultations due to app support for RA

Reade researchers have developed a smartphone app for rheumatoid arthritis patients that allows them to monitor their disease activity for themselves. In RA patients with stable low disease activity, supporting this application was found not at the expense of disease control, but resulted in 38% fewer consultations with a rheumatologist.

This study was conducted on 103 rheumatoid arthritis patients with reduced disease activity. Treatment has not changed over the past six months. Participating patients were randomly assigned to application-assisted patient-initiated care with a scheduled follow-up consultation one year later (application group) or usual care. Each week they respond to the Routine Evaluation of Patient Index Data (RAPID-3).

The first common primary end point was non-inferiority change in DAS28 at 12 months. This end point was met, since the 95% confidence interval for the mean change in DAS28 between groups was within the non-inferiority limit: a decrease of 0.04 in favor of the application group.

The second common primary endpoint was the proportion of the mean number of rheumatology consultations between groups. The number of consultations was significantly lower in the application group (mean 1.7 vs 2.8; visit ratio: 0.62).

source:

Seppen BF, Wiegel J, Ter Wee MM, et al. Smartphone-assisted patient-initiated care versus usual care for patients with rheumatoid arthritis and low disease activity: a randomized controlled trial. Rheumatoid arthritis. July 11, 2022. Online ahead of print.