Using digital health technologies to monitor pain, medication 2 adherence and physical activity in young people with Juvenile 3 Idiopathic Arthritis: feasibility study

Abstract

Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis can be influenced by pain, medication adherence and physi- 20 cal activity. A new digital health intervention InteractiveClinics, aims to monitor these modifiable 21 risk factors. Twelve children, aged 10 to 18 years, received daily notifications on a smart watch to 22 record their pain level and take their medications, using a customized mobile app, synchronized to 23 a secure web-based platform. Daily physical activity levels were automatically recorded by wearing 24 a smart watch. Using a quantitative descriptive research design, feasibility and user adoption was 25 evaluated. Web-based data revealed: pain mean app usage, 68% (SD 30, range 28.6% to 100%), pain 26 score 2.9 out of ten (SD 1.8, range 0.3 to 6.2 out of 10). Medication adherence; mean app usage 20.7% 27 (SD, range 0% to 71.4%), recording 39% (71/182) of the expected daily, and 37.5% (3/8) of the weekly 28 medications. Pro-re-nata (PRN) medication monitoring: 33.3% (4/12), 1 to 6 additional medications 29 (mean 3.5, SD 2.4) for 2-6 days. Physical activity: watch wearing behaviour 69% (435/630), recording 30 low levels of moderate to vigorous physical activity (mean 11.8, SD 13.5 minutes, range 0 – 47 31 minutes). Concluding, remote monitoring of real-time data is feasible. However, further research is 32 needed to increase adoption rates by children.