RE-BUILD app offers self-monitoring aid to ILD patients

A novel smartphone application (app) has demonstrated its usability for self-monitoring and data collection in patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD), reports a study.

Dubbed as RE-BUILD (Registry for Better Understanding of ILD), the app also boasts of high patient satisfaction but needs further development.

This study recruited 50 ILD patients aged ≥18 years from three tertiary ILD centres to use the RE-BUILD app for 6 months. Investigators then evaluated the mHealth App Usability Questionnaire (MAUQ) at 1, 3, and 6 months, while patients received monthly prompts to enter clinical and patient-reported outcome measure (PROM) data.

In addition, qualitative interviews were carried out in a subset of 10 patients to assess their experience in using the app.

Of the patients (mean age 66.9 years), half (n=25, 50 percent) were female. Participants used the app for a median of 48 sessions or about eight sessions per month. The median number of days that RE-BUILD was accessed was 37, with 13 patients (26 percent) using the app >30 times per month. ‘Physical activity’ was the most accessed feature of the app, followed by ‘air quality’.

Regarding usability, participants either agreed or strongly agreed that RE-BUILD was easy to use (76.0 percent), easy to learn to use (79.8 percent), and well-organized with accessible information (74.8 percent). The median overall MAUQ score for usability was 5.69, with a high rate of engagement with app functionalities.

“RE-BUILD is a usable and intuitive platform for self-monitoring and data collection in ILD,” the investigators said. “Patients report a high degree of satisfaction and have provided valuable feedback for its further development.”