Gyeonggi Province Increases Normal Blood Pressure Achievement Rate in Hypertensive Patients through Mobile App

[Suwon Ilbo = Park No-hoon] A project for constructing a 'data-based demonstration support platform for Healing Care products and services' being pursued by Gyeonggi Province, the Gyeonggi Province Economic Science Promotion Agency Bio Center, and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy has become the first in Korea to verify the clinical effectiveness of a medication management application developed by a Gyeonggi Province promising startup.

Gyeonggi Province and the Gyeonggi Province Economic Science Promotion Agency Bio Center announced on the 4th that through the data-based demonstration support platform for Healing Care products and services, they have verified the efficacy of ㈜Oniance, a promising startup in Gyeonggi Province, 'patient medication management mobile app' (Paprika Care), with statistically significant results.

The project to construct a data-based demonstration support platform for Healing Care products and services is being led by the Gyeonggi Province Economic Science Promotion Agency Bio Center, with Korea University Ansan Hospital, Kyung Hee University Industry-Academia Cooperation Foundation, and Cha University Industry-Academia Cooperation Foundation forming an industry-academia-research-medical collaboration body to verify the safety and efficacy of digital healthcare and Healing Care promising startup products and services.

Gyeonggi Province and the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy have been implementing the 'data-based demonstration support platform construction project for Healing Care products and services' since 2020 through 2023, investing 14.1 billion won over four years to foster the bio-industry and make a global leap in the healthcare industry.

Paprika Care is a medication management application that automatically registers information when users take a photo of a prescription or medicine package, notifying patients when to take their medication. It also has features to register medication schedules on a calendar and view medical information about patients' conditions and drug information.

As a result of conducting clinical trials for approximately eight months from September last year to April this year on 60 hypertensive patients by Gyeonggi Province and the Gyeonggi Province Economic Science Promotion Agency Bio Center, the normal blood pressure achievement rate for hypertensive patients using the app was 75.9%, while the control group not using it recorded 48.1%.

The medication compliance (the degree to which patients follow doctors' prescriptions and pharmacists' medication guidance) of patients who participated in the experiment showed 98.2% in the test group using the app and 92.1% in the control group not using it.

When multiple medications were taken simultaneously, unlike the control group, no phenomenon of decreased medication compliance was observed in the test group.

Gyeonggi Province explained that this experiment is significant in that it has verified through clinical trials for the first time in Korea the correlation between the efficacy of medication management mobile apps and therapeutic effects.

Through this experiment, the possibility of expanding mobile app services for various chronic diseases and medication management has been confirmed, and it can now be actively applied to support medication management for elderly living alone and vulnerable groups in management blind spots.

Professor Kim Nan-hee of the Endocrinology and Metabolism Department at Korea University Ansan Hospital, who led the demonstration clinical trial, said, "As the first clinical trial for a medication management mobile app service in Korea, it is meaningful as results suggesting possibilities for medication management in various chronic diseases such as diabetes."

For more details about the Healing Care demonstration support project, inquiries can be made to the Gyeonggi Province Economic Science Promotion Agency Bio Center (031-888-6930).