Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Dermatology
Date Submitted: May 25, 2023
Date Accepted: Nov 22, 2023
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Feasibility and potential impact of mobile health app in facilitating management in children with atopic dermatitis
ABSTRACT
Background:
Inadequate control of Atopic Dermatitis (AD) increases frequency of exacerbations and reduces quality of life. Mobile health applications provide information and communication technology and may increase treatment adherence, and facilitate disease management at home. The mobile health Atopic App, designed for patients and their caregivers, and the associated online patient education AtopicSchool program provide an opportunity for improving patients’ and caregivers’ engagement and adherence management of AD.
Objective:
This noninterventional, observational study aimed to explore feasibility of the Atopic App mobile health app to facilitate management by caregivers of children with Atopic Dermatitis (AD).
Methods:
The Patient-Oriented Eczema Measure (POEM) and numerical rating scale for grading of pruritus were used as severity scores. The artificial intelligence (AI) model of the app was used to assess the severity of AD based on the Eczema Area and Severity Index (EASI) approach. The de-identified data enabled analysis of severity of AD, treatment plan history, potential triggers of flare-ups, usage of available features of the app and the impact of patient education.
Results:
During 12-months period, among 1223 users installed the app, 910 (74.4%) registered users were caregivers of children with AD. Online AtopicSchool course was accessed by 266 (29.2%) caregivers of children with AD, and 134 (50.4%) of these completed the course. Usage of the app was significantly more frequent among those who completed the AtopicSchool than among those who did not access or did not complete the course (P<0.0001). Users who completed a second POEM 21-27 days apart demonstrated a significant improvement of AD severity by POEM score (P<0.05) with average Improvement of 3.86 points in the score. AI severity score and itching score were highly correlated to the POEM score, r=0.35 and r=0.52 respectively.
Conclusions:
The Atopic App provides valuable real-world data on the epidemiology, severity dynamics, treatment patterns and exacerbation-trigger correlations in patients with AD. The Atopic App is a promising tool that can help increase healthcare engagement of patients with AD and their caregivers.
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