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. 2025 Apr 16:27:e53144.
doi: 10.2196/53144.

Effectiveness of Mobile Apps in Improving Medication Adherence Among Chronic Kidney Disease Patients: Systematic Review

Ganesh Sritheran Paneerselvam  1   2 , Pei Lin Lua  3 , Wen Han Chooi  4 , Inayat Ur Rehman  5 , Khang Wen Goh  6 , Long Chiau Ming  7   8
Affiliations

Effectiveness of Mobile Apps in Improving Medication Adherence Among Chronic Kidney Disease Patients: Systematic Review

Ganesh Sritheran Paneerselvam et al. J Med Internet Res. .

Abstract

Background: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a serious condition affecting millions of individuals worldwide. Adherence to medication regimens among patients with CKD is often suboptimal, leading to poor health outcomes. In recent years, mobile apps have gained popularity as a promising tool to improve medication adherence and self-management in various chronic diseases.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of mobile apps to improve medication adherence among patients with CKD (including end-stage and renal replacement therapy).

Methods: A systematic search was conducted using Scopus, Cochrane, PubMed, and EBSCOhost to include eligible articles that studied mobile apps to improve medication adherence among patients with CKD. The quality of the selected studies was evaluated using the Newcastle‒Ottawa Scale and the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool.

Results: Out of 231 relevant articles, only 9 studies were selected for this systematic review. Based on Newcastle‒Ottawa Scale, 7 were deemed to be of high quality, while others were of fair quality. The Cochrane risk-of-bias tool indicated a low to moderate risk of bias across the included studies. Most of the included studies had a randomized controlled design. Of the 9 selected studies, 3 papers represented medication adherence by a coefficient of 10 variability of tacrolimus, 3 papers used adherence measurement scales to calculate the score for assessing medication adherence, 2 papers represented medication adherence by self-reporting, 2 papers represented medication adherence using electronic monitoring, and 1 represented medication adherence by pill count. The mobile apps were identified as Transplant Hero (Transplant Hero LLC), Perx (Perx Health), Smartphone Medication Adherence Saves Kidneys (developed by John McGillicuddy), Adhere4U (developed by Ahram Han), My Dialysis (developed by Benyamin Saadatifar), Kidney Love (developed by National Kidney foundation), and iCKD (developed by Dr Vivek Kumar). Of these apps, 3 focused on evaluating Transplant Hero, while the remaining investigated each of the other mentioned apps individually. The apps use various strategies to promote medication adherence, including reminders, gamification, patient education, and medication monitoring. A majority, 5 out of 9 mobile apps, had a statistically significant (P<.05) effect on medication adherence. There was strong evidence for a positive effect of interventions focusing on games and reminders combined with electronic medication tray monitoring and patient education.

Conclusions: Mobile apps effectively improved medication adherence in patients with CKD, but low evidence and short intervention duration warrant caution. Future research should identify ideal features, provider costs, and user-friendly, secure apps.

Keywords: chronic kidney disease; digital health; e-medication; electronic medication; health outcomes; kidney disease; medication adherence; medication monitoring; mhealth; mobile applications; mobile health; patient education.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Summary of the article selection process.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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