Self-evidence-based digital care programme improves health-related quality of life in adults with a variety of autoimmune diseases and long COVID: a retrospective study.

OBJECTIVE: To retrospectively investigate the feasibility and impact on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of a digital care programme (DCP) designed to guide personalised diet and integrative interventions in a variety of autoimmune diseases and long COVID. METHODS: Adults who participated in the DCP between April 2020 and June 2022, and for whom baseline (BL) and end-of-programme (EOP) Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS) scores were available, were included in this retrospective study. Changes from BL to EOP were calculated using standardised T-scores. RESULTS: Two hundred two adults between 17 and 82 years old were included. Diagnoses included: rheumatoid arthritis (20.1%); long COVID (14.9%); psoriatic arthritis (10.9%); psoriasis (8.9%); systemic lupus erythematosus (6.4%); inflammatory bowel disease (5.9%); multiple sclerosis (5.9%); ankylosing spondylitis (5.4%) and other (23.3%). On average, individuals entered observations 7.6 times/day on 86% of programme days, attended 14 coach sessions and completed the programme in an average of 17.2 weeks. Statistically significant improvements were seen in all 10 PROMIS domains analysed. Individuals with higher severity of compromise at BL experienced greater average improvements than all-comers in all 10 PROMIS domains included. CONCLUSION: An evidence-based DCP that uses patient data to help identify hidden symptom triggers and guide personalised dietary and other non-pharmacological interventions was associated with a high level of engagement and adherence and statistically significant, clinically meaningful improvements in HRQoL. Those with the least favourable PROMIS scores at BL experienced the greatest improvements.

Digital Therapeutic Platform for Management of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a complex, multi-system autoimmune disease of unclear etiology that causes significant morbidity and, in severely affected patients, early mortality. Despite efforts from academic and private research entities, pharmaceutical companies, and patient advocacy groups, and hundreds of millions of dollars in spending, numerous gaps in care still exist. A digital therapeutic platform is described that uses self-tracking technology, analytics, and telehealth coaching to identify and remove possible dietary and/or other lifestyle triggers of SLE. A clinical proof of concept study was performed with 18 SLE patients over a 12 week program. All participants reported improvements in their symptoms, including pain, fatigue, digestive, and other physical symptoms.Clinical Relevance- This study demonstrates the technical and clinical feasibility of a digital therapeutic platform to improve the health-related quality of life in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.