Abstract:

Objective: To analyze the willingness and effect of tuberculosis assistant APP and electronic kit in pulmonary tuberculosis patients. Methods: A total of 297 active pulmonary tuberculosis patients registered in Songjiang District, Shanghai from May 1 to October 31, 2019 were collected and screened according to the registration order and inclusion criteria. Based on the principle of informed consent, 269 patients who met the inclusion criteria were selected. After independent choose of tuberculosis assistant APP or electronic kit voluntarily, the cases were divided into tuberculosis assistant APP group (n=72) and electronic kit group (n=76). These 148 patients were prospectively studied until the end of the course of treatment. The willingness of patients with different gender, age and household registration to choose the tuberculosis assistant APP or the electronic kit, and the overall medication rate of the tuberculosis assistant APP group and the electronic kit group were analyzed. Results: Among the 269 patients, 72 chose the tuberculosis assistant APP, with a usage rate of 26.8%. The usage rate of household registration patients in this city was 13.6% (11/81), and the usage rate of floating population patients was 32.4% (61/188), and the difference was statistically significant (χ²=10.28, P<0.01). The usage rate of patients aged 18-44 years was 35.4% (67/189), the usage rate of patients aged 45-59 years was 8.8% (3/34), and the usage rate of patients aged ≥60 years was 4.3% (2/46), the difference was statistically significant (χ²=24.65, P<0.01). Of the 269 patients, 76 chose the electronic kit, with a usage rate of 28.3%. The usage rate of household registration patients in this city was 51.9% (42/81), and the usage rate of floating population patients was 18.1% (34/188), the difference was statistically significant (χ²=31.84, P<0.01). The selection rate of patients aged 18-44 years was 19.6% (37/189), the usage rate of patients aged 45-59 years was 38.2% (13/34), and the usage rate of patients aged ≥60 years was 56.5% (26/46), the difference was statistically significant (χ²=26.83, P<0.01). There were 197 patients unwilling to use the tuberculosis assistant APP, mainly because they thought it was troublesome to punch in every day, which accounting for 44.7% (88/197); 193 patients were unwilling to use electronic kit, the main reason was that they thought using pill boxes was not as convenient as taking medicine directly, which accounting for 29.0% (56/193). The overall medication rate of the tuberculosis assistant APP group was 95.2% (19478/20461), which was significantly higher than that of the electronic kit group (93.3%, 20183/21631) (χ²=69.01, P<0.01). The overall regular medication rate of tuberculosis assistant APP group was 93.1% (67/72), and that of electronic kit group was 90.8% (69/76). Conclusion: Pulmonary tuberculosis patients have a certain willingness to use the tuberculosis assistant APP and the electronic kit. The use of the tuberculosis assistant APP and the electronic kit to supervise the medication management of pulmonary tuberculosis patients has a good effect on the medication rate and treatment compliance.

Key words: Tuberculosis,pulmonary, Patient care management, Computer communication networks, Medication adherence