Division of Cardiology, Policlinico Hospital, University of Catania, Catania, Italy.
Division of Cardiology, Policlinico Hospital, University of Catania, Catania, Italy.
Int J Cardiol. 2021 Mar 15;327:209-216. doi: 10.1016/j.ijcard.2020.12.008. Epub 2020 Dec 9.
Current medication adherence telemonitoring systems have several limitations prompting the need for simpler, low-cost and widely applicable tools. To meet these needs, we propose a novel method consisting in sending a digital feedback of medication intake by just reading a pre-defined Quick Response (QR) code attached on the pills box.
To assess the potential clinical applicability of the proposed QR code-based task, its feasibility was tested among elderly with heart diseases. The primary endpoint was the learning success defined as a correct execution of all QR code-based digital task steps within 10 min. Study outcomes were compared between patients 65-75 years old (younger cohort) and those aged >75 years (older cohort) admitted to the Cardiology ward of a tertiary center.
A total of 262 patients were included: 128 (48.9%) were younger and 134 (51.1%) older. Despite a baseline low smartphone use in the overall population (41.2%), patients learning success of the digital task was as high as 75.6%, with lower rates among older vs. younger (67.9% vs. 83.6%, p = 0.005). After adjustment no significant independent association between age and success in learning the QR code-based task was found. Differently, increasing age was a negative independent predictor of smartphone use. The learning time was overall small, but longer in the older group (126 ± 100 vs. 100 ± 60 s, p = 0.03).
The QR code-based digital task was highly feasible for elderly with heart diseases suggesting its potential large-scale clinical application and encouraging the investigation of QR code-based systems for medication adherence telemonitoring.
当前的药物依从性远程监测系统存在一些局限性，这促使我们需要更简单、低成本且广泛适用的工具。为了满足这些需求，我们提出了一种新方法，即通过读取贴在药盒上的预定义 QR 码来提供药物摄入的数字反馈。
为了评估基于 QR 码的任务的潜在临床适用性，我们在患有心脏病的老年人中测试了其可行性。主要终点是学习成功，定义为在 10 分钟内正确执行所有基于 QR 码的数字任务步骤。研究结果在年龄在 65-75 岁（年轻队列）和年龄 >75 岁（老年队列）之间的患者中进行了比较，这些患者被收入三级中心的心脏病病房。
共纳入 262 名患者：128 名（48.9%）年龄较小，134 名（51.1%）年龄较大。尽管总体人群的智能手机使用率较低（41.2%），但患者对数字任务的学习成功率高达 75.6%，年龄较大的患者成功率较低（67.9% vs. 83.6%，p=0.005）。调整后，年龄与成功学习基于 QR 码的任务之间无显著独立关联。相反，年龄增长是智能手机使用的负面独立预测因素。学习时间总体较短，但在老年组中较长（126±100 与 100±60 秒，p=0.03）。
基于 QR 码的数字任务对于患有心脏病的老年人来说是高度可行的，这表明其具有潜在的大规模临床应用，并鼓励对基于 QR 码的系统进行药物依从性远程监测的研究。
