Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-1-2019

Identifier

PMCID: PMC6698307 DOI: 10.1016/j.ekir.2019.04.026

Abstract

Introduction: There is limited information on effective disease monitoring for prompt interventions in childhood nephrotic syndrome. We examined the feasibility and effectiveness of a novel text messaging system (SMS) for disease monitoring in a multicenter, prospective study.

Methods: A total of 127 patientsresults, symptoms, and medication adherence were sent to a designated caregiver (n = 116) or adolescent patient (n = 3). Participants responded by texting. Feasibility of SMS was assessed by SMS adoption, retention, and engagement, and concordance between participant-reported results and laboratory/clinician assessments. The number of disease relapses and time-to-remission data captured by SMS were compared with data collected by conventional visits.

Results: A total of 119 of 127 (94%) patients agreed to SMS monitoring. Retention rate was 94%, with a median follow-up of 360 days (interquartile range [IQR] 353-362). Overall engagement was high, with a median response rate of 87% (IQR, 68-97). Concordance between SMS-captured home urine protein results and edema status with same-day in-person study visit was excellent (kappa values 0.88 and 0.92, respectively). SMS detected a total of 108 relapse events compared with 41 events captured by scheduled visits. Median time to remission after enrollment was 22 days as captured by SMS versus 50 days as captured by scheduled visits.

Conclusion: SMS was well accepted by caregivers and adolescent patients and reliably captured nephrotic syndrome disease activity between clinic visits. Additional studies are needed to explore the impact of SMS on disease outcomes.

Journal Title

Kidney Int Rep

Volume

4

Issue

8

First Page

1066

Last Page

1074

MeSH Keywords

Nephrotic Syndrome; Text Messaging; Disease Management; Infant; Child, Preschool; Child; Adolescent

Keywords

caregivers; children; health status; mobile health; nephrotic syndrome; text messaging

Comments

Grant support

This article is available under the Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND license and permits non-commercial use of the work as published, without adaptation or alteration provided the work is fully attributed.

Publisher's Link: https://www.kireports.org/article/S2468-0249(19)30173-1/fulltext

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