Discussion
hypo, heart failure, hypertensive, readmission
ADVERSE EVENTS, DISEASE, HYPERGLYCEMIA, CONGESTIVE HEART FAILURE, HEART FAILURE, HYPERTENSION
The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of using a drug management app on drug adherence and adverse events in polypharmacy adults. The results showed that using an app customized for the special conditions of the older adults improves medication adherence. In line with results of present study, Najafi et al. conducted a study to investigate the effect of using a mobile phone-based application on medication adherence in patients with heart failure during three months. The results showed a significant increase in the medication adherence score after using the app. Medication adherence changes were more significant in the intervention group compared to the control group, indicating improved medication adherence in people with heart failure after using the app [Baghei et al. studied the effect of a mobile educational application on medication adherence in hypertensive older adults. Comparison mean scores of medication adherence components showed significant difference in commitment to treatment and hesitation in implementation of treatment between two groups while no significant difference was observed in the blood pressure status between the intervention and control groups. However, in present study, blood pressure alterations reduced significantly in the intervention group compared to control group; therefore, the results are not consistent. This difference may be due to the follow-up duration. However, it can be concluded that mobile app education can improve medication adherence in older adult app users [Habib et al. conducted a study to improve medication adherence following hospital discharge using a mobile application in Canada. This study was conducted on 49 patients with a mean age of 64.6 years assigned to two groups. The patients were followed for 30 days’ post-discharge. During the follow-up period, they were evaluated for medication adherence and re-hospitalization. At the time of discharge, the app was installed on the mobile phones of the patients in the intervention group. Drug management app named SAM, an alarm reminder app, with mission to improve medication adherence in older adults. According to the results, the medication adherence rate was 83.7% in the intervention group and 77.8% in the control group, indicating no significant difference [The results of the present study showed that using the drug management app reduced adverse events including re-hospitalization due to disease aggravation and error in medication consumption, falling, hypo or hypertension, hypo or hyperglycemia, and promote medication use accuracy according to the pill count method. In this regard, Park et al. conducted a study to determine the effect of using digital health monitoring on readmission reduction in patients with health failure in the United States. This study was carried out on 58 patients and readmission rate was measured during 30 days. The results showed that overall 30-day readmission rate was 10% in these patients, while the mean readmission rate was 25% across the country indicating a significant reduction [Finally, Athilingam et al. conducted a study to evaluate the effect of enhanced self-care using mobile technology on reducing readmission in patients with congestive heart failure. Results showed that patients in intervention group were not readmitted during the 30 days of study compared to control group. Preliminary results showed the potential effectiveness of app in reducing readmission and improving self-care in heart failure patients [