An mHealth Intervention to Improve Medication Adherence and Health Outcomes

A Mobile Phone Based Medication Reminder Program for Patients With Coronary Heart Diseases: A Pilot Study

Investigators evaluated the efficacy of a pilot-tested mHealth intervention to improving medication adherence and health outcomes among patients with coronary heart disease.

This was a two-arm parallel randomized controlled trial, in which 116 and 114 participants were assigned to the experimental and control groups, respectively. The mHealth intervention in this study had been pilot tested and tailored. Specifically, the experimental group received a medication-taking reminder every morning via WeChat app and educational materials of coronary heart disease and medication adherence every five days via Message Express app. The control group received only general educational materials, which were irrelevant to coronary heart disease or medication adherence, every 5 days via Message Express app. All participants were diagnosed with coronary heart disease. The specific recruitment criteria of participants had been published in peer-reviewed journal.

Inclusion Criteria:

• (1) had a medical diagnosis of coronary heart disease;
• (2) aged 18 years or older;
• (3) had an antihypertensive medication regimen for 90 days or more from enrollment;
• (4) able to read messages through mobile phone;
• (5) had a mobile phone that could receive messages from WeChat and reminders from Message Express;
• (6) capable of giving his/her own consent; and
• (7) had an electronic blood pressure cuff to check blood pressures and heart rates.

Exclusion Criteria:

• was enrolled in other research studies