ANALYSIS OF CURRENT RESEARCH IN WEARABLES: TOWARDS GREATER DIGITAL HEALTH

ABSTRACT

Background and importance Digital health is the concept that incorporates information and communication technologies into healthcare services. Nowadays, and favoured by the SARSCoV- 2 pandemic, hospital pharmacy has been forced to adopt digital technologies and tools to improve patient care. Aim and objectives If any area of hospital pharmacy has gained prominence in recent years, it is the area of digital health. Therefore, it was decided to analyse current clinical trials in relation to technological devices or wearables. Material and methods Descriptive study of current clinical trials on technological devices from the pharmacological aspect. The following filters were applied active trials, devices in digital pharmacy, all phases, all ages and both sexes. The type of device was analysed as intervention, pathology, location, and study topic. Both observational and interventional studies were included. The tool used for evaluation was the ClinicalTrials. gov clinical trials registry. Results Nineteen current active phase clinical trials were analysed. The phases of the projects were phase I-7, phase II-3, phase III-2 and phase IV-7. The main pathologies of the clinical trials were musculoskeletal disorders (6), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (3), Parkinson's neurodegenerative diseases (3), oncology (2), autism (1), renal system (1), cardiac system (1) and self-injection devices (1). The main countries conducting clinical trials were United States (13), Europe (4), Asia (1) and Oceania (1). Seven projects were detected in the patient recruitment phase. Conclusion and relevance Although the use of wearables in the field of hospital pharmacy is a little known topic, it is increasingly gaining prominence in the literature and in scientific research. Digital health is the driver of change towards new models of care between patients and healthcare professionals. Therefore, it is necessary to continue with research and clinical trials to promote digitisation in hospital pharmacy.