Badawy SM & Kuhns LM. (2016). Economic evaluation of text-messaging and smartphone-based interventions to improve medication adherence in adolescents with chronic health conditions: A systematic review. JMIR Mhealth and Uhealth, 4(4). DOI: 10.2196/mhealth.6425
Despite research showing the promise of technology-based interventions for improving outcomes of pediatric patients with chronic health conditions (CHCs), there is little understanding of the cost effectiveness of these technologies. Researchers conducted a literature search using online databases; to be included, articles had to be about adolescents (12-24 years old) diagnosed with a CHC, an original evaluation study (i.e. a randomized clinical trial, quasi-experimental study, or a pilot study), about a mobile intervention, focused on medication adherence, and an evaluation of economic outcomes. Researchers did not find any articles that met all the requirements to be reviewed and only four articles described mobile interventions with the potential for cost-savings. Three of the studies reported improvement in medication adherence and three studies reported improvements in other outcomes (e.g. clinic attendance rates, self-efficacy). These studies addressed the possibility of future cost savings, such as savings from reduced health care usage and less effort from health care providers during treatment, but did not include formal economic evaluations. Authors urged future research to formally assess the cost-effectiveness of mobile health interventions. Research should address how mobile health interventions improve outcomes compared to other interventions and whether the benefits of these interventions justify the cost of developing and maintaining technologies. An obstacle to this research is the lack of validated quality of life measures for adolescents.