Systematic review of mobile health applications in transplant patients

Poor medication management can lead to adverse outcomes for transplant patients, including acute rejection and graft loss. In recent years, mobile applications have been proposed as innovative tools to improve patient treatment management.

This review aimed to systematically evaluate the available research evidence on the relationship between mobile applications and treatment management in transplant patients.

The following databases were systematically searched for relevant publications on April 8, 2022, using the PRISMA method: PubMed, Embase, and Google Scholar. The Cochrane risk of bias tool was used to assess the included studies. Observational or interventional studies focusing on the use of mobile applications in adult solid organ transplant patients were included for analysis.

A total of 28 articles met the inclusion criteria. The overall methodological quality of the evidence was assessed as low. Most studies were monocentric (n = 23, 82%). The majority of follow-ups focused on kidney transplants (n = 12, 42.9%) with small sample sizes (54%, n < 99), including participants < 60 years old (n = 26, 93%) with follow-up ≤ 6 months (61%). Medication adherence rates showed significant improvements in seven out of 13 trials compared to standard care or placebo. Several features were reported to be most effective in improving patient treatment management, such as self-registration and monitoring, medication reminders based on alerts, and caregiver monitoring to check patients' health indicators or medication adherence.

Mobile applications tended to improve medication management in transplant patients compared to standard care. However, due to the heterogeneity of the objectives of the analyzed studies, which do not allow for meta-analysis, further high-level evidence studies evaluating the effects of mobile applications in this area are needed to support effective interventions.