Activity and Profile of the Users of a Novel Mobile Application Supporting Proper Diet Among Maintenance Hemodialysis Patients.

Objective: Diet plays a key role in the management of chronic kidney disease. The aim of our study was to evaluate the usage of a self-developed mobile application supporting proper dietary choices among maintenance hemodialysis (HD) patients.

Methods: The primary functions of the application are to provide databases of products and recipes. Data on user activity recorded using Internet solutions were collected for 12 months from April 2021. The application was promoted both via the Internet and directly to patients. Additionally, a questionnaire was employed to evaluate the usage of the software.

Results: The application was downloaded by 841 smartphone users, 44.4% of whom were from 2 regions of Poland with the largest populations of HD patients. Residents of cities with a population above 250,000 accounted for 86.0% of users. Sixty HD patients (32 males, 28 females; age 56.2 ± 14.8 years) filled the questionnaire. All features of the application scored a median of 4.0 points or higher on a 5-point Likert scale; however, 63.3% of respondents indicated the need to improve particular functions of the application. There was a significant difference in dialysis vintage between respondents who used the application for less than 1 month and others (1.0 vs. 3.3 years; P = .02). The positive perception of its influence on diet adherence was significantly higher among younger (<50 years) compared to older users (5.0 vs. 4.0; P = .03) and among women compared to men (5.0 vs. 4.0; P = .01).

Conclusion: HD patients showed interest in dietary mobile applications, and Internet channels were effective in promoting the software. Place of residency, age, gender, and dialysis vintage are factors that influence patient satisfaction with and the time of using the mobile application.