Digital Competencies and Attitudes Toward Digital Adherence Solutions Among Elderly Patients Treated With Novel Anticoagulants: Qualitative Study

Review of glaucoma medication adherence monitoring in the digital health era

Current glaucoma treatments aim to lower intraocular pressure, often with topical ocular hypotensive medications. Unfortunately, the effectiveness of these medications depends on sustained patient adherence to regimens which may involve instilling multiple medications several times daily. Patient adherence to glaucoma medications is often low. Recent innovations in digital sensor technologies have been leveraged to confirm eyedrop medication usage in real-time and relay this information back to providers. Some sensors have also been designed to deliver medication reminders and notifications as well as assist with correct eyedrop administration technique. Here, we review recent innovations targeted at improving glaucoma medication adherence and discuss their limitations.

Older home care clients' experiences of digitalisation: A qualitative study of experiences of the use of robot for medicines management

BACKGROUND

Home-living older people with multiple medications are a key target group for medication robots. However, our understanding of how robots for medicines management work in older people's daily lives is limited.

AIM

The aim of this study was to describe older home care clients' experiences of the implementation and use of a robot for medicines management at home.

DESIGN

A qualitative interview study.

METHODS

Data were collected during spring and autumn 2021 using semi-structured individual interviews with older home care clients (n = 38). The data were analysed using inductive content analysis.

RESULTS

The older home care clients had positive experiences with the use of technology for the medication process, but they also faced challenges in their daily life activities. Implementation and use of the robot required open-mindedness, satisfaction with the implementation, and the opportunity to practice the use of the robot with a nurse. However, the current design and size of the robot for medicines management in home care still need development, given that our research participants did not feel included in the robot development process.

CONCLUSION

The use of digital solutions will increase older people's home care. Therefore, there is a need to deepen our understanding of the implementation and use of digital solutions to prevent digital challenges and to provide a more comprehensive picture of this phenomenon. In addition, research focusing on whether the use of the robot affects medication administration incidents and medication adherence should be conducted to improve the safety of medicines management.

Role of telemedicine in the management of oral anticoagulation in atrial fibrillation: a practical clinical approach

Compared with face-to-face consultations, telemedicine has many advantages, including more efficient use of healthcare resources, partial relief of the burden of care, reduced exposure to COVID-19, treatment adjustment, organization of more efficient healthcare circuits and patient empowerment. Ensuring optimal anticoagulation in atrial fibrillation patients is mandatory if we want to reduce the thromboembolic risk. Of note, telemedicine is an excellent option for the long-term management of atrial fibrillation patients. Moreover, direct oral anticoagulants may provide an added value in telemedicine (versus vitamin K antagonists), as it is not necessary to monitor anticoagulant effect or make continuous dosage adjustments. In this multidisciplinary consensus document, the role of telemedicine in anticoagulation of this population is discussed and practical recommendations are provided.

Approaches to Improvement of Digital Health Literacy (eHL) in the Context of Person-Centered Care

The skills, knowledge and resources to search for, find, understand, evaluate and apply health information is defined as health literacy (HL). If individuals want to use health information from the Internet, they need Digital Health Literacy (eHL), which in addition to HL also includes, for example, media literacy. If information cannot be found or understood by patients due to low (e)HL, patients will not have the opportunity to make informed decisions. In addition, many health apps for self-management or prevention also require (e)HL. Thus, it follows that active participation in healthcare, in terms of Person-Centered Care (PCC) is only possible through (e)HL. Currently, there is a great need to strengthen these competencies in society to achieve increased empowerment of patients and their health. However, at the same time, there is a need to train and improve competencies in the field of healthcare professionals so that they can counsel and guide patients. This article provides an overview with a focus on HL and eHL in healthcare, shows the opportunities to adapt services and describes the possible handling of patients with low (e)HL. In addition, the opportunities for patients and healthcare professionals to improve (e)HL are highlighted.

Barriers and Supports in eHealth Implementation among People with Chronic Cardiovascular Ailments: Integrative Review

eHealth interventions use information technology to provide attention to patients with chronic cardiovascular conditions, thereby supporting their self-management abilities.

OBJECTIVE

Identify barriers and aids to the implementation of eHealth interventions in people with chronic cardiovascular conditions from the perspectives of users, health professionals and institutions.

METHOD

An integrative database review of WoS, Scopus, PubMed and Scielo of publications between 2016 and 2020 reporting eHealth interventions in people with chronic cardiovascular diseases. Keywords used were eHealth and chronic disease. Following inclusion and exclusion criteria application, 14 articles were identified.

RESULTS

Barriers and aids were identified from the viewpoints of users, health professionals and health institutions. Some notable barriers include users' age and low technological literacy, perceived depersonalization in attention, limitations in technology access and usability, and associated costs. Aids included digital education and support from significant others.

CONCLUSIONS

eHealth interventions are an alternative with wide potentiality for chronic disease management; however, their implementation must be actively managed.

Design of an Integrated Acceptance Framework for Older Users and eHealth: Influential Factor Analysis

Background

eHealth and telehealth play a crucial role in assisting older adults who visit hospitals frequently or who live in nursing homes and can benefit from staying at home while being cared for. Adapting to new technologies can be difficult for older people. Thus, to better apply these technologies to older adults’ lives, many studies have analyzed the acceptance factors for this particular population. However, there is not yet a consensual framework that can be used in further development and to search for solutions.

Objective

This paper aims to present an integrated acceptance framework (IAF) for older users’ acceptance of eHealth based on 43 studies selected through a systematic review.

Methods

We conducted a 4-step study. First, through a systematic review in the field of eHealth from 2010 to 2020, the acceptance factors and basic data for analysis were extracted. Second, we conducted a thematic analysis to group the factors into themes to propose an integrated framework for acceptance. Third, we defined a metric to evaluate the impact of the factors addressed in the studies. Finally, the differences among the important IAF factors were analyzed according to the participants’ health conditions, verification time, and year.

Results

Through a systematic review, 731 studies were found in 5 major databases, resulting in 43 (5.9%) selected studies using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Item for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) methodology. First, the research methods and acceptance factors for eHealth were compared and analyzed, extracting a total of 105 acceptance factors, which were grouped later, resulting in an IAF. A total of 5 dimensions (ie, personal, user–technology relational, technological, service-related, and environmental) emerged, with a total of 23 factors. In addition, we assessed the quality of evidence and then conducted a stratification analysis to reveal the more appropriate factors depending on the health condition and assessment time. Finally, we assessed the factors and dimensions that have recently become more important.

Conclusions

The result of this investigation is a framework for conducting research on eHealth acceptance. To elaborately analyze the impact of the factors of the proposed framework, the criteria for evaluating the evidence from the studies that have the extracted factors are presented. Through this process, the impact of each factor in the IAF has been presented, in addition to the framework proposal. Moreover, a meta-analysis of the current status of research is presented, highlighting the areas where specific measures are needed to facilitate eHealth acceptance.

Non-use of telemedicine: A scoping review

Many telemedicine interventions fail to be implemented in medical care with non-use and discontinued use by patients being among the major reasons. The aim of this scoping review was to provide an overview of barriers associated with non-use and discontinued use of telemedicine. An electronic search was conducted in Pubmed in October 2019 and updated in November 2020, followed by a hand search in the beginning of 2021. All potential articles were screened by two independent reviewers based on predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria. A qualitative content analysis according to Mayring was carried out. The topics 'intervention', 'context of use' and 'user' were chosen as overarching themes. Out of 1377 potentially relevant articles, 73 were included. User-related barriers were mentioned in most of the analysed studies, followed by barriers related to the intervention. The analysis provides the basis for overcoming non-use issues in telemedicine.

The Relevance of Diet, Physical Activity, Exercise, and Persuasive Technology in the Prevention and Treatment of Sarcopenic Obesity in Older Adults

The aging population faces two conditions that threaten healthy aging: high fat mass (obesity) and low muscle mass and function (sarcopenia). The combination of both-referred to as sarcopenic obesity-synergistically increases the risk of adverse health outcomes. The two conditions often co-occur because they reinforce each other and share common etiologies, including poor nutrition and inactivity. All aging people are at risk of gaining weight and losing muscle mass and could benefit from improvements in physical activity, exercise and dietary intake. one specific window of opportunity is during the transient time of retirement, as older adults already need to restructure their daily activities. It is key to change lifestyle behavior in a sustainable manner, providing scientifically proven, personalized, and acceptable principles that can be integrated in daily life. Health technologies (e.g., applications) can provide promising tools to deliver personalized and appealing lifestyle interventions to a large group of people while keeping health care costs low. Several studies show that health technologies have a strong positive effect on physical activity, exercise and dietary intake. Specifically, health technology is increasingly applied to older people, although strong evidence for long term effects in changing lifestyle behavior is generally lacking. Concluding, technology could play an important role in the highly warranted prevention of sarcopenic obesity in older adults. Although health technology seems to be a promising tool to stimulate changes in physical activity, exercise and dietary intake, studies on long lasting effects and specifically targeted on older people around the time of retirement are warranted.

Real-world mapping of allergy immunotherapy in the United States: The argument for improving adherence

Background: There is a dearth of real-world evidence studies focused on allergy immunotherapy (AIT) use among patients with allergic rhinitis (AR). Objective: This study examined claims data of AR patients residing in the United States to assess patient characteristics and health outcomes. Methods: AR patients were identified in the IBM MarketScan database between January 1, 2014, and March 31, 2017. Patients receiving AIT were identified with relevant billing codes (earliest AIT claim for vaccine as the index date); patients without AIT were identified with claims that contained a diagnosis code for AR (earliest AR claim as the index date). All the patients were required to have continuous enrollment 12 months prior to and following their index date. AIT patients reaching 25+ injection claims were analyzed as a separate maintenance cohort. Patients were assessed for demographic characteristics, comorbid conditions, and health care utilization. Results: A total of 2,334,530 AR patients were included; 103,207 had at least one AIT claim, with 45,279 (43.9%) of these patients reaching maintenance. Patients who reached AIT maintenance presented higher rates of baseline comorbidities than both the full AIT cohort and the patients with no AIT claims, including asthma (34.6% versus 30.1% versus 7.5%) and upper respiratory tract infections (63.1% versus 60.3% versus 34.2%). From baseline to follow-up, maintenance AIT patients demonstrated reductions in all AR-related comorbidities assessed, along with reductions in all-cause and AR-related service utilization. Conclusion: Patients initiating AIT presented the greatest need for therapeutic intervention, as evidenced by higher allergy-related comorbidities; those who reached maintenance demonstrated improved outcomes following the initiation of therapy. Continued efforts to increase patient awareness and adherence to AIT are needed.

Regular Bleeding Risk Assessment Associated with Reduction in Bleeding Outcomes: The mAFA-II Randomized Trial

BACKGROUND

The mobile atrial fibrillation application (mAFA-II) randomized trial reported that a holistic management strategy supported by mobile health reduced atrial fibrillation-related adverse outcomes. The present study aimed to assess whether regular reassessment of bleeding risk using the Hypertension, Abnormal renal and liver function, Stroke, Bleeding, Labile international normalized ratio, Elderly, Drugs or alcohol (HAS-BLED) score would improve bleeding outcomes and oral anticoagulant (OAC) uptake.

METHODS

Bleeding risk (HAS-BLED score) was monitored prospectively using mAFA, and calculated as 30 days, days 31-60, days 61-180, and days 181-365. Clinical events and OAC changes in relation to the dynamic monitoring were analyzed.

RESULTS

We studied 1793 patients with atrial fibrillation (mean, standard deviation, age 64 years, 24 years, 32.5% female). Comparing baseline and 12 months, the proportion of atrial fibrillation patients with HAS-BLED ≥3 decreased (11.8% vs 8.5%, P = .008), with changes in use of concomitant nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs/antiplatelets, renal dysfunction, and labile international normalized ratio contributing to the decreased proportions of patients with HAS-BLED ≥3 (P < .05). Among 1077 (60%) patients who had 4 bleeding risk assessments, incident bleeding events decreased significantly from days 1-30 to days 181-365 (1.2% to 0.2%, respectively, P < .001). Total OAC usage increased from 63.4% to 70.2% (P_trend < .001). Compared with atrial fibrillation patients receiving usual care (n = 1136), bleeding events were significantly lower in atrial fibrillation patients with dynamic monitoring of their bleeding risk (mAFA vs usual care, 2.1%, 4.3%, P = .004). OAC use decreased significantly by 25% among AF patients receiving usual care, when comparing baseline to 12 months (P < .001).

CONCLUSION

Dynamic risk monitoring using the HAS-BLED score, together with holistic App-based management using mAFA-II reduced bleeding events, addressed modifiable bleeding risks, and increased uptake of OACs.