The healthcare industry is developing applications (apps) using data and IT to manage various health indices such as weight, calorie intake, blood pressure, sleep, and blood glucose levels. These apps also support users' health goals through smartphones and can positively affect their quality of life (QOL) and reduce healthcare costs. However, few studies have examined the effects of apps on the QOL and healthcare costs, and no study has compared these effects for different types of apps.
Our study investigates these effects on healthcare costs and QOL using a Japanese database containing health check-ups, claims, and QOL data provided by DeSC. We developed a regression model to estimate the QOL and healthcare costs (per patient per month [PMPM]) as following: QOL = α+ β1 × gender + β2 × age + β3 × health index; the same model is used for PMPM. A change of 1 in the laboratory value or a change in the questionnaire answer reflected on the coefficient (β3) for each health index. We examined the laboratory values: BMI, systolic blood pressure, triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, hemoglobin (Hb) A1c, Hb, and eGFR, and questionnaire items: smoking, exercise, eating quickly, skipping breakfast, drinking alcohol, and sleep in health check-up data as the health indices.
The database included 2,249,617 health check-up records from 488,389 individuals, and 47,728 QOL records from 34,154 individuals connected to the claims data were used.
For the QOL, the largest change (0.048) was estimated for sleep—from "not getting enough rest from sleep" to "getting enough rest from sleep." The largest reduction in the healthcare cost, at Japanese yen (JPY) 483,887, was observed for the improvement in HbA1c value by 1. Sleep showed the largest effect on the combined value by an improvement in the QOL (converted monetary value by multiplying threshold, JPY 5 million, to improve 1 quality-adjusted life-year in Japanese health technology assessment) and reduced medical costs per year, i.e., JPY 248,480. The current study shows the impact of changes in each health index on QOL and healthcare costs, which can be vital information when comparing the effects of various health apps.
Find the Q&A here: Q&A on 'Measuring Health Outcomes'