SynthesisJournal of medical Internet research2025
Effectiveness of Mobile Apps in Improving Medication Adherence Among Chronic Kidney Disease Patients: Systematic Review.
Synthesis in Journal of medical Internet research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Facilitators and Barriers to Digital Health Technologies for Self-Management in Patients With Chronic Kidney Disease: Systematic Review Based on the Updated CFIR 2.0 Framework.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Pooled it
- Influencing Factors of Mobile Health Apps in Kidney Transplant Care: Systematic Review Using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research.JMIR medical informatics · 2026Pooled it
- Assessment Tools for Adherence to Prophylactic Haemophilia Treatment in Adult and Adolescent Patients: A Systematic Review.Haemophilia : the official journal of the World Federation of HemophiliaPooled it
- Impact of telehealth modalities on medication adherence in older adults with heart disease: Evidence from NHATS.Internet interventions · 2026Article
- Impact of mHealth on Medication Adherence in Older Adults with Chronic Diseases Facing Treatment Burden: A Systematic Review.Geriatrics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Bridging pediatric to adult care in cystinosis: a scoping review of healthcare transition of care protocols and a roadmap for future practice.BMC nephrology · 2026Article
- The Application of Mobile Health in Self-Management Among Patients Undergoing Dialysis: Scoping Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Smartphone addiction as a risk factor for medication non-adherence in renal transplant recipients.Archives of medical science : AMS · 2025Article
- Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundChronic kidney disease (CKD) is a serious condition affecting millions of individuals worldwide. Adherence to medication regimens among patients with CKD is often suboptimal, leading to poor health outcomes. In recent years, mobile apps have gained popularity as a promising tool to improve medication adherence and self-management in various chronic diseases.
objectiveThis study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of mobile apps to improve medication adherence among patients with CKD (including end-stage and renal replacement therapy).
methodsA systematic search was conducted using Scopus, Cochrane, PubMed, and EBSCOhost to include eligible articles that studied mobile apps to improve medication adherence among patients with CKD. The quality of the selected studies was evaluated using the Newcastle‒Ottawa Scale and the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool.
resultsOut of 231 relevant articles, only 9 studies were selected for this systematic review. Based on Newcastle‒Ottawa Scale, 7 were deemed to be of high quality, while others were of fair quality. The Cochrane risk-of-bias tool indicated a low to moderate risk of bias across the included studies. Most of the included studies had a randomized controlled design. Of the 9 selected studies, 3 papers represented medication adherence by a coefficient of 10 variability of tacrolimus, 3 papers used adherence measurement scales to calculate the score for assessing medication adherence, 2 papers represented medication adherence by self-reporting, 2 papers represented medication adherence using electronic monitoring, and 1 represented medication adherence by pill count. The mobile apps were identified as Transplant Hero (Transplant Hero LLC), Perx (Perx Health), Smartphone Medication Adherence Saves Kidneys (developed by John McGillicuddy), Adhere4U (developed by Ahram Han), My Dialysis (developed by Benyamin Saadatifar), Kidney Love (developed by National Kidney foundation), and iCKD (developed by Dr Vivek Kumar). Of these apps, 3 focused on evaluating Transplant Hero, while the remaining investigated each of the other mentioned apps individually. The apps use various strategies to promote medication adherence, including reminders, gamification, patient education, and medication monitoring. A majority, 5 out of 9 mobile apps, had a statistically significant (P<.05) effect on medication adherence. There was strong evidence for a positive effect of interventions focusing on games and reminders combined with electronic medication tray monitoring and patient education.
conclusionsMobile apps effectively improved medication adherence in patients with CKD, but low evidence and short intervention duration warrant caution. Future research should identify ideal features, provider costs, and user-friendly, secure apps.
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What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.