MedNet.nl: Axia – a new app-based digital therapy – leads to significant improvements in disease activity, functional status, and quality of life in patients with stable, treated axSpA. Patrick-Pascal Strunz (Universitätsklinikum Würzburg) presented these results from the Bechterew-App Trial in a late-breaking abstracts session.
Axia is a new digital therapy developed specifically for patients with axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA). Axia offers an app-based intervention that combines individual exercise programs from home with patient education and disease management. In the Bechterew App Trial, Strunz and colleagues examined the effectiveness of 12 weeks of Axia use.
They randomized 200 patients with axSpA who were receiving stable drug therapy at different German centers to use Axia (intervention group) or standard treatment (control group). After 12 weeks, they determined whether there were improvements in disease activity (Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index; BASDAI), disease-specific functionality (Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index; BASFI), and disease-specific quality of life (Ankylosing Spondylitis Quality of Life questionnaire; ASQoL).
Of the 200 participants, 186 completed the follow-up period (intervention group 95, control group 91). Among Axia users, the researchers observed significant and clinically relevant improvement on the BASDAI (–1.66 points; SD=1.41) compared with standard care (–0.11 points; SD=1.15; p<0.001). The intervention group also improved more on the BASFI than the control group (–1.12 points; SD=1.40 vs +0.06 points; SD=1.31; p<0.001), as well as on the ASQoL (–2.51 points; SD=2.55 vs –0.16 points; SD=2.26; p<0.001). With Axia, significantly more patients achieved a response on the Assessment of Spondyloarthritis International Society (ASAS)20 than with standard care (51 vs 9%; p<0.001). The same was true for the ASAS40 (23 vs 3%; p<0.001). No concerning safety signals were found.
This article was originally published in Dutch on MedNet.nl