E-Health and remote management of patients with inflammatory bowel disease: lessons from Denmark in a time of need.

In Denmark, remote monitoring and management of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) started two decades ago with the web application Constant Care. The disease monitoring in Constant Care consists of simple disease activity questionnaires and home measurement of faecal calprotectin, a stool biomarker for inflammation. It has now been implemented in clinical practice at North Zealand University Hospital in Denmark. Digital health care solutions facilitate remote contact between patients and healthcare providers and have been shown to reduce time to remission, outpatient visits and hospital admissions, and increase adherence to medical therapy, quality of life and disease and treatment knowledge. In Australia, E-Health is an area of increasing interest, particularly given the significant distances travelled by rural patients to access specialist care. There are several foreseeable benefits to incorporating E-Health/remote monitoring into Australian IBD management, including reduced burdens of time and cost on rural patients, and more efficient management of well outpatients, thereby increasing clinic availability for acutely unwell patients. The significant portion of IBD patients managed in private practice in Australia, and the infrastructure within private practice that is well suited to implementation of E-Health makes Australia a viable setting for an E-Health IBD management model like Denmark's Constant Care model. One pilot study is currently underway investigating the feasibility of rapid and remote IBD monitoring and E-Health in an Australian IBD population. The current COVID-19 pandemic has further illustrated the importance of telehealth as a means of maintaining health services to patients in geographic, or social, isolation.

Whats 'App-ening': the help of new technologies in nutrition in digestive diseases.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The aim of this study is to review the basic concepts of electronic health (eHealth), with a focus on its nutritional applications and its usefulness for digestive diseases. RECENT FINDINGS: eHealth applications for the treatment and monitoring of digestive disease are growing in number. ehealth helps patients in coping with their disease by promoting self-management, which increases adherence to medical treatment and diets, and leads to an improved quality of life. For irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), there are multiple applications that provide dietary advice, for example, a low FODMAP (Fermentable Oligo, Mono, Disaccharides And Polyols) diet. However, many applications lack a symptom scoring function and do not include a module for assisting the essential reintroduction of high FODMAP foods. In general, there are very few applications that enable direct patient communication with healthcare professionals. A more holistic approach that educates patients and enables them to communicate directly with eCare provider through a web application is one of the functions most requested by patients. SUMMARY: eHealth solutions for digestive diseases have a supportive function and a positive impact on patients. However, there is a need to increase patient education and further develop the possibility for care team-patient communication within eHealth solutions.

Follow-up of patients with functional bowel symptoms treated with a low FODMAP diet.

AIM: To investigate patient-reported outcomes from, and adherence to, a low FODMAP diet among patients suffering from irritable bowel syndrome and inflammatory bowel disease. METHODS: Consecutive patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and co-existing IBS fulfilling the ROME III criteria, who previously attended an outpatient clinic for low FODMAP diet (LFD) dietary management and assessment by a gastroenterologist, were invited to participate in a retrospective questionnaire analysis. The questionnaires were sent and returned by regular mail and gathered information on recall of dietary treatment, efficacy, symptoms, adherence, satisfaction, change in disease course and stool type, and quality of life. Before study enrolment all patients had to sign an informed written consent. RESULTS: One hundred and eighty patients were included, 131 (73%) IBS and 49 (27%) IBD patients. Median age was 43 years (range: 18-85) and 147 (82%) were females. Median follow-up time was 16 mo (range: 2-80). Eighty-six percent reported either partial (54%) or full (32%) efficacy with greatest improvement of bloating (82%) and abdominal pain (71%). The proportion of patients with full efficacy tended to be greater in the IBD group than in the IBS group (42% vs 29%, P = 0.08). There was a significant reduction in patients with a chronic continuous disease course in both the IBS group (25%, P < 0.001) and IBD group (23%, P = 0.002) along with a significant increase in patients with a mild indolent disease course of 37% (P < 0.001) and 23% (P = 0.002), respectively. The proportion of patients having normal stools increased with 41% in the IBS group (P < 0.001) and 66% in the IBD group (P < 0.001). One-third of patients adhered to the diet and high adherence was associated with longer duration of dietary course (P < 0.001). Satisfaction with dietary management was seen in 83 (70%) IBS patients and 24 (55%) IBD patients. Eighty-four percent of patients lived on a modified LFD, where some foods rich in FODMAPs were reintroduced, and 16% followed the LFD by the book without deviations. Wheat, dairy products, and onions were the foods most often not reintroduced by patients. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that a diet low in FODMAPs is an efficacious treatment solution in the management of functional bowel symptoms for IBS and IBD patients.