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Reminders for medication adherence in Type 2 diabetes management apps
Author(s) -
Jimenez Geronimo,
Lum Elaine,
Huang Zhilian,
Theng Yin Leng,
Boehm Bernard O.,
Car Josip
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of pharmacy practice and research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.222
H-Index - 22
eISSN - 2055-2335
pISSN - 1445-937X
DOI - 10.1002/jppr.1595
Subject(s) - medicine , medication adherence , type 2 diabetes , diabetes management , diabetes mellitus , family medicine , medical prescription , nursing , endocrinology
Medication adherence is important for glycaemic control. However, less than half of those with Type 2 diabetes take medications as prescribed. One of the known barriers to medication adherence is forgetfulness. Given the current ubiquity of smartphones, diabetes self‐management apps represent a valuable avenue for providing medication reminders to help users adhere to their medication treatments and improve health outcomes. We assessed 181 diabetes management apps for the presence of medication reminder features and compared their characteristics with the evidence provided in studies showing the effectiveness of SMS reminders. We found that only 55.8% of the apps had a basic medication reminder function, although those that had them conformed to the characteristics of SMS reminders shown to be effective. This is an important missed opportunity for diabetes management apps to contribute not only to improving medication adherence, but also in having a positive effect on the health outcomes of this population.