The Role of Technology in Chronic Disease Self-Management

In 2021, global healthcare spending is expected to surpass $8 trillion, which is approximately 10% of the world’s economy.

Healthcare solutions that enable self-management such as apps and devices have the power to reduce this economic burden and improve outcomes, particularly among chronic diseases. These solutions include lifestyle and behavior change support, medication compliance, and adherence, as well as prevention and screening.

Let’s take diabetes, a highly prevalent chronic disease as an example. It costs 1.1% of global GDP and as it continues to grow, particularly in low to middle-income countries, self-management will be a key enabler for budget-conscious solutions.

As a chronic and progressive disease, diabetes care is complex. To prevent acute, life-threatening glycemic events, and limit the risk of long-term complications, glycemic control, as well as other vital readings, are critical. According to the American Diabetes Association, clinical practice guidelines “are key to improving population health; however, for optimal outcomes, diabetes care must be individualized for each patient.”

With much of the day-to-day responsibility of disease management falling on patients with diabetes and their caregivers, intermittent interventions limit the ability of healthcare providers to optimize treatment. How can technology enable self-management and facilitate treatment decisions?

Apps and devices focused on active lifestyle, nutrition, and education have quickly found their way into diabetes management. When combined with HCP monitoring, these self-management tools, especially when tailored and targeted, are extremely effective and advance the promise of personalized medicine.

For patients with type 1 diabetes, continuous glucose monitoring devices coupled with pumps have become key to controlling glucose levels. However, within the substantially more prevalent type 2 diabetes population (90% of total) the best patient improvements have been observed where devices, apps, and web portals are used to measure, log and monitor vitals and biometric data (weight, BMI, blood pressure, blood glucose) on a regular basis. The collected data is then used to deliver coaching, either in an automated form (via AI solutions) or through nurse interaction.

One of the largest studies to date (including more than 100k patients) demonstrated how a combination of apps and web portals significantly improves glycemic control through increased prescription adherence (see table below).

Interestingly, this data was collected between 2015 and 2017, when apps were more rudimentary, devices were less functional and more expensive, virtual diabetes programs (delivered via telemedicine) were rare, and Artificial Intelligence was in its early days.

With barriers due to delivery fragmentation, clinical information capabilities, and care coordination, the combination of devices, software, and intelligent data can enable a better understanding of patients’ day-to-day habits and environment. Providing self-management tools will enable healthcare providers to make data-driven decisions and improve diabetes outcomes.

By putting the Spotlight on patients, Luminous can help you navigate this new phase in chronic disease management.