Mobile solution and chronic diseases: development and implementation of a mobile application and digital platform for collecting, analyzing data, monitoring and managing health care

Abstract

Background: Technological advances based on mobile health (mHealth), the field of digital health (eHealth) aimed at managing health services and care and their concomitant transformations, have become increasingly important in the 21st century. In this context, care for individuals diagnosed with Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases (CNCDs) deserves to be highlighted. The aim of this study is to present the creation, development and implementation of the Telehealth Center of the Federal University of Viçosa (NUTELES - UFV), for the monitoring and management of health care for individuals with Arterial Hypertension (AH) and/or Diabetes Mellitus (DM). Methods: This study, carried out in 2022 and 2023, involved 374 patients diagnosed with AH and/or DM in the health micro-region of Viçosa/MG, Brazil, comprising nine municipalities. The research aims to describe the creation, development and implementation of a software (NutelesApp) for the collection, storage, management and analysis of epidemiological research in public health, focusing specifically, on the monitoring and management of health care for individuals with AH and/or DM monitored by Primary Health Care (PHC). The parameters collected and analyzed were obtained through a questionnaire applied to patients, consisting of 70 questions, subdivided into 12 classes of questions. The epidemiological survey data was collected using mobile devices and analyzed using computer techniques based on statistical analysis. Once the field teams had completed their work, the files were transferred to servers for general analysis processing, using estimates of means, prevalence and respective standard errors, calculated using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) program, which takes into account the planning variables and includes the basic weights resulting from the sampling process. This study was approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee and registered, prior to recruitment, by the Brazilian Registry of Clinical Trials (ReBEC), ID: RBR-45hqzmf (Last approval date: 11/30/2022). Results: The information obtained through data collection with subsequent exploratory analysis of epidemiological data using the NutelesApp software suggests that mobile applications intended for the purpose of monitoring and managing healthcare for people with AH and/or DM should address the variables necessary to support a process of understanding the health conditions and/or disease of the individual as a whole and provide short- and long-term learning. Regarding the results of the survey using the software, the variables of 374 people were analyzed. Majority are female (73.2%) and white (43.5%). Most patients are elderly (average 64 years), with blood pressure levels within the normal range for this population, BMI indicates overweight, AC increased risk for cardiovascular events and CC within the recommendation value. All biochemical parameters analyzed were above normal limits. Conclusions: The description of the creation and development of the software includes practical examples of its implementation, the results collected and its applicability in real scenarios, presenting determining criteria that can provide assertive and timely interventions for monitoring and managing the health and/or disease parameters of patients with HA and/or DM. In addition, the beneficial consequences of using this application will extend to health units and their respective management, improving the services provided by PHC and enhancing strategies and actions for health promotion and disease prevention.