Impact of an intervention associating the community pharmacist and the use of a mobile health application for patients with type 2 diabetes

Background: Diabetes represents a real public health problem, due to its constantly increasing prevalence and many complications. Management based on a change of lifestyle and the adoption of health-promoting behaviors, complemented if necessary by drug treatment, prevents complications, improves the patient's quality of life, and reduces mortality. In order to achieve this, it is essential to implement multidisciplinary patient support, in which the pharmacist can participate, not only through pharmaceutical care, but also through the implementation of educational sessions promoting the involvement of the diabetic patient in the management of his or her health. Research suggests that the use of mobile technologies combined with health coaching can help patients with their daily life and disease management.
Aim: This study analyses the impact of a device combining the intervention of the community pharmacist, in the form of educational sessions, and the use of a mobile health application on the level of medication adherence and secondary outcomes considered as cardiovascular risk factors.
Methodology: A quantitative pre-experimental study, established over a period of six months with three data collection periods (before, during, and after the intervention), made it possible to analyze the evolution of different primary (HbA1c and MARS-5 score) and secondary (HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, BMI and waist circumference) outcomes in relation to the monitoring of type 2 diabetic patients. The baseline sample consisted of 66 patients, 46 of whom completed the study.
Results: Statistical analyses did not show an improvement in the level of medication adherence. However, significant results were observed for systolic blood pressure (p = 0.01) and waist circumference (p = 0.002). All the other outcomes studied changed positively or stabilized between the beginning and the end of the study.
Conclusion: This study showed that monitoring by a pharmacist, combined with the use of a mobile health application, can have a positive impact on the management of type 2 diabetic patients as well as on outcomes considered as cardiovascular risk factors.