In September 2022, the study NOR-Flare started. The purpose of the study is to investigate whether digital remote follow-up of patients with rheumatoid arthritis in remission or with low disease activity is not inferior to regular follow-up with six-monthly checks at the hospital in relation to disease control.
We have interviewed Senior researcher Anne Therese Tveter, responsible for the study at Diakonhjemmet Hospital.
"Anne Therese, can you tell us a little about the background for the NOR-Flare study and what inspired you to explore digital distance monitoring for patients with rheumatoid arthritis?"
Photo: Nicolas Tourrenc/Deakonhjemmet hospital
"Synthetic and biological drugs have revolutionized the treatment of people with rheumatoid arthritis, but this type of treatment requires frequent follow-up. Traditionally, these patients have been followed up with six-monthly consultations at the hospital, but research shows that these checks do not necessarily correspond to when the patients have a flare-up and that many of the checks may be unnecessary in that they do not lead to any change in the drug treatment.
The aim of the study is therefore to investigate whether these patients can be followed up digitally and to a greater extent can be checked when there is a need for this and not only based on predefined times".
Can you say a little more about how the digital distance tracking works in practice?
"In this project, we will recruit 260 patients who will be randomly divided into two groups. One group will be followed up as is the current practice with six-monthly checks, while the other will be followed up via the Youwell platform, where the patients regularly report their symptoms and health status. Based based on their responses, we use advanced algorithms to identify patients who potentially need to be screened. We have so far recruited 239 patients and hope to be done with recruitment before the summer."
It sounds really promising. How do you hope this approach will affect patients with rheumatoid arthritis, but just as importantly, what potential benefits do you see implementing such a follow-up?
" The idea is that this will save both the patient and society costs in the form of absence from work and reduced travel costs, as well as that it will free up capacity to carry out checks with those patients who actually need it. We hope this will give patients with a chronic disease such as rheumatoid arthritis a much greater degree of flexibility and control over one's own disease".
In conclusion, what do you hope the future holds for digital distance monitoring of rheumatoid arthritis?
" There are now more and more directives from the health authorities that patients should be followed up from home to a greater extent. I therefore hope that the NOR-Flare study will give us valuable insight that can contribute to shaping the health services of the future.
If the results are positive, this could pave the way for the implementation of digital distance monitoring as a standard practice for this patient group. But it is also important to examine several sides of this.
We are now in the process of a qualitative study which is being carried out in connection with NOR-Flare, where we want to bring out the experiences and perspectives of both patients and healthcare personnel on distance follow-up. This will also be an important contribution to the design of the future healthcare system. In any case, this is a very exciting field to work with.
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