Stefan Becker*, iNephro Initiative, Department of Nephrology University Hospital Essen, Essen, Germany Andreas Kribben, iNephro Initiative, Department of Nephrology University Hospital Essen, Essen, Germany Sven Meister, Fraunhofer-Institut für Software- und Systemtechnik ISST, Dortmund, Germany Clarissa J. Diamantidis, Division of Nephrology, University of Maryland Medical Systems, Baltimore, Baltimore, United States Anna Mitchell, iNephro Initiative, Department of Nephrology University Hospital Essen, Essen, Germany Track: Research Presentation Topic: Mobile & Tablet Health Applications Presentation Type: Oral presentation Submission Type: Single Presentation Building: Mermaid Room: Room 4 - Queenshithe Date: 2013-09-23 04:00 PM – 06:00 PM Last modified: 2013-09-25

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Background: One of the key problems in the drug therapy of patients with chronic conditions is drug adherence. In 2010 the initiative iNephro was launched (www.inephro.de). The mobile application “Medikamentenplan” (“Medication Plan”) to support regular and correct drug intake was developed for a smartphone platform (iOS) and published in the iTunesTM App StoreTM in December 2010.

Objective: Pre-specified main endpoints of the study were the frequency and intensity of use and the users' demographic characteristics.

Methods: The “Medication Plan” application was specified for iOS by the Department of Nephrology, Essen University Hospital, Essen, Germany, in cooperation with the companies Digital Office, Dortmund, and Bergisch Media, Heiligenhaus (both Germany) and the support of the German Society of Nephrology. Users are able to keep and alter a list of their regular medication. A memory function supports regular intake. The application can be downloaded free of charge from iTunesTM App StoreTM. After individual consent of users from December 2010 to February 2012 2042338 actions were recorded and analysed from the downloaded applications. Demographic data were collected from 2279 users with a questionnaire.

Results: Overall the application was used by 11688 smartphone users. 29 % (3406/11688) used it at least once a week for at least four weeks. 30% (3209/11688) used the application for at least 84 days. 68 % (1554/2279) of users surveyed were male, the stated age of all users was between 6-87 years (mean 44). 75 %of individuals (1697) declared to be suffering from cardiovascular disease, 13 % (292) had a previous history of transplantation, 9 % (205) were suffering from cancer, 7 % (168) reported an impaired renal function and 7 % (161) suffered from diabetes mellitus. 68 % (1568) of users were on <6 different medications, 9 % (201) on 6 – 10 and 1 % (26) on more than 10.

Conclusion: A smartphone application that supports drug adherence was used regularly by chronically ill users with a wide range of diseases over a longer period of time. Most of the users were seem to have been “early adopters” of a new service: relatively young, male and - derived from the relatively small number of daily taken pills - comparatively healthy.