App-based digital therapeutic may ‘close a gap in health care’ for treating IBS
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Key takeaways:
- More than 70% of patients in the treatment group had “clinically relevant” symptom improvement vs. 33.2% in sham group.
- Patients in the treatment group also had improved quality of life (70.8% vs. 19%).
An app-based digital therapeutic was “largely effective” in reducing symptoms and improving quality of life, work productivity and health literacy among patients with irritable bowel syndrome, according to late-breaking data from UEG Week.
“Treatment of IBS comprises a multidisciplinary approach that is tailored to an individual patient and it includes medication, patient education, dietary therapy and also psychotherapy, and it’s often also a combination of those measures,” L.M. Weiβer, of HiDoc Technologies GmbH, said. “However, currently, most IBS patients do not receive adequate treatment due to limited availability. Digital therapeutics might help to close that gap by providing guided health help, especially for chronic conditions such as IBS.”
Weier and colleagues enrolled 378 adults with IBS in Germany to investigate the effectiveness of a digital health application (DiGA) for treatment compared with a waiting list. For 12 weeks, 188 patients used the DiGA, which provided an in-app symptom journal and personalized treatment plan consisting of nutrition therapy and psychotherapy, and 190 used a sham app that only contained questionnaires with no additional health information. Both groups had access to add-on care as needed.
Primary outcomes included reduction in symptom severity, measured by the IBS-Symptom Severity Score (IBS-SSS); improvements in quality of life and health literacy; and reductions in work productivity impairment and activity. Weier noted an improvement of at least 50 points on the IBS-SSS scale denoted “clinically relevant” results.
According to analysis, patients in the DiGA group had statistically significant improvements in symptom severity (95% CI, –123.9 to –79.9), quality of life (95% CI, 16.2-22.1), work productivity and activity impairment (95% CI, –0.2 to –0.1), and health literacy (95% CI, 0.7-1.8).
Further, 70.2% of patients in the DiGA group vs. 33.2% of patients in the sham group experienced clinically relevant improvement in symptoms (OR = 4.871; 95% CI, 3.122-7.601), and 70.8% vs. 19% (OR = 10.703; 95% CI, 6.55-17.491) had improved quality of life.
“The investigated DiGA was found to be largely effective in patients with IBS, so it provides a treatment option that produces a significant clinically relevant reduction of symptoms and improvement of quality of life as well as significant improvements of work productivity and health literacy,” Weier concluded. “It might therefore close a gap in health care by providing positive care effects to IBS patients independent from health care practitioners.”
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Weiβer LM, et al. The effectiveness of an app-based digital therapeutic for irritable bowel syndrome: Results of a randomized controlled trial. Presented at: UEG Week; Oct. 14-17, 2023; Copenhagen, Denmark (hybrid meeting).
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