Smartphones and Rheumatoid Flares Save

FORWARD Databank of Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients reveals that smartphone data can predict flares using PROs. 

RA flares are seen in 30-60% of patients, are hard to predict or prevent and significantly affect the quality of life. This study RA examine associations between self reported flare signals and passive smartphone data.

Flares were identified from patients in the prospective FORWARD Databank, looking for PRO changes, either from fixed (biweekly flare assessments) or conditional (flare questions triggered by symptoms. Flare questions were triggered when daily pain or function scores increased by at least 2.5 points (0-10 scale), or when weekly Patient Activity Scale II (PAS-II) scores rose above 1.67.

There were a total of 292 RA adult patients. Flares were reported:

• Conditional phase: by 71% (> 1flare) over 441 days (2.9 per participant)
• Fixed phase: by 76% over 172 days (3.7 per participant). 

Overall flares were linked to worse PROs, and were linked to slower reaction times and shorter texts. 

Flares were less common in the summer. 

Flares were also associated with:

• Lower mobility radius (OR 0.88), younger age, workdays, and lower educational level (conditional phase)
• Worse patient global (OR 1.25) and pain (OR 1.30) (fixed phase)

These analyses shows that passive smartphone collection of PRO data can be used to identify flares between visits and have the potential for future predictive modeling. Further study and validation is necessary.