Adherence to treatment in allergic rhinitis using mobile technology. The <scp>MASK</scp> Study

<jats:title>Summary</jats:title><jats:sec><jats:title>Background</jats:title><jats:p>Mobile technology may help to better understand the adherence to treatment. <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">MASK</jats:styled-content>‐rhinitis (Mobile Airways Sentinel NetworK for allergic rhinitis) is a patient‐centred <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">ICT</jats:styled-content> system. A mobile phone app (the <jats:italic>Allergy Diary)</jats:italic> central to <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">MASK</jats:styled-content> is available in 22 countries.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Objectives</jats:title><jats:p>To assess the adherence to treatment in allergic rhinitis patients using the <jats:italic>Allergy Diary</jats:italic> App.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods</jats:title><jats:p>An observational cross‐sectional study was carried out on all users who filled in the <jats:italic>Allergy Diary</jats:italic> from 1 January 2016 to 1 August 2017. Secondary adherence was assessed by using the modified Medication Possession Ratio (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">MPR</jats:styled-content>) and the Proportion of days covered (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">PDC</jats:styled-content>) approach.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>A total of 12 143 users were registered. A total of 6 949 users reported at least one <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">VAS</jats:styled-content> data recording. Among them, 1 887 users reported ≥7 <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">VAS</jats:styled-content> data. About 1 195 subjects were included in the analysis of adherence. One hundred and thirty‐six (11.28%) users were adherent (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">MPR</jats:styled-content> ≥70% and <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">PDC</jats:styled-content> ≤1.25), 51 (4.23%) were partly adherent (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">MPR</jats:styled-content> ≥70% and <jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">PDC</jats:styled-content> = 1.50) and 176 (14.60%) were switchers. On the other hand, 832 (69.05%) users were non‐adherent to medications (<jats:styled-content style="fixed-case">MPR</jats:styled-content> <70%). Of those, the largest group was non‐adherent to medications and the time interval was increased in 442 (36.68%) users.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion and clinical relevance</jats:title><jats:p>Adherence to treatment is low. The relative efficacy of continuous vs on‐demand treatment for allergic rhinitis symptoms is still a matter of debate. This study shows an approach for measuring retrospective adherence based on a mobile app. This also represents a novel approach for analysing medication‐taking behaviour in a real‐world setting.</jats:p></jats:sec>