A randomized controlled trial of the Effects of a telehealth educational intervention on medication adherence and disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis patients

Aims To examine the effects of a tailored telehealth educational intervention on medication adherence and disease activity in discharged patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Design An un-blinded randomized controlled trial. Methods A total of 92 eligible patients were recruited from January 2015-December 2015. Participants were randomly assigned to either the intervention (N = 46) or control group (N = 46). The intervention group received four educational sessions delivered through a telephone across a 12-week intervention. The content of the education mainly included: subject's knowledge about disease; treatment goals; the importance of taking medication correctly; side effect management; remembering to take medication. The control group received only standard care including discharge instructions. Outcome measures included medication adherence and disease activity. Results The intervention group had significantly higher medication adherence compared with the control group at 12th and 24th week. There was no significant difference between two groups in disease activity at 12th and 24th week. Conclusions The telephone-delivered tailored educational intervention effectively improved medication adherence among discharged patients with rheumatoid arthritis. However, no significant benefits of the intervention on disease activity were detected. Impact Good medication adherence in rheumatoid arthritis patients contributes to controlling symptom and inflammation, preventing the progressive structural damage. This study demonstrated that the telehealth educational intervention could improve patients' medication adherence but did not have a direct impact on clinical condition in the short-term. The intervention for discharged patients with rheumatoid arthritis can be integrated into the clinical setting by the nursing staff as follow-up care. Trial registration number: ChiCTR-IPR-14005722.