Abstract
Purpose :
To determine if a smartphone medical adherence app (RxmindMe® Prescription/Medicine Reminder and Pill Tracker) can alter compliance in amblyopia therapy in patients 3-7 years of age who have not previously been treated for amblyopia.
Methods :
This prospective, case-control study enrolled children under 8 years of age identified with refractive or strabismic amblyopia. The patients were randomized to receive electronic remainders programmed into the smartphone of the caretaker (reminders group) or educational information about amblyopia only (control group). Visual acuity was reassessed at follow up visit and compliance was evaluated through completion of the previously validated Amblyopia treatment Index Parental Questionnaire.
Results :
Twenty-four patients completed enrollment. Thirteen patients in the reminder group (8 female, 5 male; mean age 4.7 ± 1.0) were compared with 11 subjects in the control group (5 female, 6 male; mean 5.3 ± 1.2). Socioeconomic characteristics such as education level of caregivers, marital status and age of parents were similar between the two groups. The compliance index rating in the questionnaire for both treatment and control groups was similar (p > 0.2).
Conclusions :
This is the first report of the use of a smartphone medical adherence app to try to improve compliance to amblyopia therapy. Our findings indicate that universal recommendation of adherence apps may not influence compliance, yet this tool may be helpful when difficulty with compliance occurs. Future studies to evaluate particular characteristics of patients and larger sample size are recommended to further elucidate the use of this potential tool for compliance.
This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.