Accepted for/Published in: JMIR mHealth and uHealth
Date Submitted: Dec 10, 2020
Date Accepted: Apr 17, 2021
Daily electronic headache diary via a smartphone application: Observational study of headache evolution among regular users
ABSTRACT
Background:
Smartphone-based applications (apps) represent a major development in healthcare management. Specifically in headache care, the use of electronic headache diaries via apps is increasingly popular. In contrast to the soaring volume of available data, scientific use of these data resources is sparse.
Objective:
In this analysis, we aimed to assess changes in headache and migraine frequency, headache and migraine intensity, and use of acute medication among people with daily use of the headache diary implemented in the freely available basic version of the German commercial app M-sense.
Methods:
The basic version of M-sense comprises an electronic headache diary, documentation of lifestyle factors with a possible impact on headaches, and evaluation of headache patterns. We included in this analysis all M-sense users who had entered data in the app on a daily basis for at least seven months. Primary endpoint was the change in monthly headache days (MHD) between the first month of app use (baseline), and the sixth month after baseline. Secondary endpoints were changes in monthly migraine days (MMD), days with acute medication intake (AMD), mean headache and migraine intensity. Subgroup analyses were conducted for users with episodic and chronic migraine. Subsequently, we performed an extension analysis for users with daily entries for thirteen months, comparing the above mentioned parameters between the baseline phase and the twelfth month after baseline. Outcomes were compared using paired-sample t tests.
Results:
We analyzed data from 1,545 users. MHD decreased from 9.42 (± 5.81) at baseline to 6.39 (± 5.09) after six months (P < 0.001, 95%-CI 2.80 – 3.25). MMD, AMD, and migraine intensity were also significantly reduced. Similar results applied for 985 users with episodic migraine, and 126 users with chronic migraine. The 812 users in the extension analysis up to one year reported 9.27 (± 5.88) MHD during baseline, which decreased to 6.03 (±5.13) twelve months later (P <0.001, 95%-CI 2.90 – 3.57). MMD, AMD, and migraine intensity did also decrease significantly after one year.
Conclusions:
Among regular users of an electronic headache diary, headache and migraine frequency besides other headache characteristics improved over time. The use of an electronic headache diary may support standard headache care.
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