Enhancing Patient Empowerment in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: The Role of On-Demand Telemonitoring

Rationale: Crohn's disease and Ulcerative Colitis (Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD)) are chronic intestinal inflammations with significant impact on quality of life. Due to their chronic nature and complex treatment requiring regular outpatient appointments, IBD care puts a great burden on both the patient and the healthcare system. Appropriate care, as described in the Integrated Care Agreement published by the Dutch ministry of Health, is becoming increasingly important. Telemonitoring is a promising alternative to regular outpatient visits, with even evidence of improving the quality of care. We combined a clinical disease activity patient-reported outcome measure (the Monitor IBD At Home questionnaire) with a faecal calprotectin home test (SmarTest from Preventis) integrated in a new easy to use E-health application IBD Care Everywhere (IBD-CE) for IBD patients to determine disease activity at home.

In this study, we investigate whether using telemonitoring on-demand, according to individual needs, is equally effective and safe as telemonitoring based on a fixed schedule. This concept offers the opportunity to align the treatment of the disease more closely with the principles of appropriate care, which can result in improved patient autonomy, increased satisfaction, and enhanced self-management, while simultaneously reducing the burden on the healthcare system.

Objective: The primary objective is to assess the effect of on-demand telemonitoring for IBD patients on the number persistent flares for 12 months follow up.

Study design and intervention: This is a multicenter randomized controlled trial comparing on-demand telemonitoring with standard telemonitoring over a period of 12 months. Patients in the standard telemonitoring group follow the regular telemonitoring care pathway, which involves completing the Monitor IBD At Home (MIAH) questionnaire and performing a fecal calprotectin (FCP) home test. The app provides follow-up advice based on the results ofan algorithm. In the on-demand intervention group, patients can use the app at their own discretion when they experience symptoms but are not required to perform standard measurements when they are symptom-free. This allows them to have control over their monitoring activities.

Study population: Adult (>18 years) patients with an established diagnosis of Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis according to international guidelines, on maintenance therapy with no medication changes in the last three months and in stable remission. Remission will be defined as faecal calprotectin (FCP) < 100 µg/g and Harvey Bradshaw Index (HBI) < 5 for CD and as faecal calprotectin (FCP) < 250 µg/g and Simple Clinical Colitis Activity Index scores (SCCAI) < 3 for UC.