engleski

Assessment of side-effect of psychotropic medication using the PsyLOG mobile application

Mobile health interventions are becoming more and more widespread as health interventions for various health problems, including for psychiatric disorders. The advantages of such intervention over a standard care are its cheapness and accessibility for patients, even where standard treatment is out of reach. As part of the mHealth Psycho-Educational Intervention Versus Antipsychotic-Induced Side Effects (mPIVAS) project 2013-2015 (www.psylog.eu), we developed the mobile application “PsyLOG” based on mobile “smartphone” technology. The PsyLOG is intended to monitor antipsychotic-induced side-effects, and is available in seven languages. After the PsyLOG was developed, we wanted to test its efficacy to detect side-effects in clinical practice. In this lecture, we present results from a clinical study among 78 patients with an early phase of psychosis. Patients were assigned to two groups (one group using PsyLOG and one group receiving treatment as usual, TAU) and followed-up at four time points over six months with regards to psychopathology, side- effects, and adherence to treatment. Although there were no significant differences in psychopathology, side-effects, and treatment adherence between the groups over the study period, we found that in the PsyLOG group side-effects were detected earlier and more frequently using the PsyLOG compared to psychiatric scales. Also, significantly more different side-effects were detected using the PsyLOG in comparison with standard scales. Since the use of PsyLOG shortens the time to detect side effects and allows detecting more side effects compared to standard monitoring, it can be regarded as a useful tool for clinical practice and research. The use of the application may be especially beneficial for patients receiving a combination of different medications which might cause a complex pattern of adverse effects.

mHealth ; psychosis ; antipsychotics ; side-effects ; smartphones

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