Influence of mobile ICT on the adherence of elderly people with chronic diseases

Abstract

A great variety of applications for mobile devices are designed to support users during medical intake. One of these applications is ‘Medication Plan’ which aims at supporting regular and correct intake of medication and documentation of vital parameters. The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of demographic and health-related factors on user behavior and patterns of use. The application was available free of charge between 2010 and 2012 in the Apple™-App-Store™. The study is based on data collected via an online questionnaire. In total 1799 participants generated 1708 complete data sets. 69% of the users (74% male) with a median age of 45 applied ‘Medication Plan’ for more than one day. The mean duration of application increased substantially with age (< 21 years = 23.3 days; > 60 years = 103.9 days). However, other demographic factors (sex, educational status etc.) had no effect on usage intensity. Users with complicated medical treatment or aged > 60 years applied the application for 3 month on average. This is a promising trend towards the support treatment of chronic conditions with mobile applications.