Patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) manage most pain symptoms or events at home without seeking medical help (Smith et al, 2008). Thus, to have the largest impact on patients’ functioning and quality of life, we should focus more on assessment and treatment of daily pain rather than episodic acute pain that requires emergent care (Amr et al, 2011). We need innovative approaches to better understand daily pain patterns and factors associated with changes in pain intensity and frequency. In the current study, we use a mobile e-diary app to describe day-to-day patterns in SCD-related pain symptoms and identify the clinical and demographic factors associated with differences in daily pain level among adult patients with SCD.
Three sickle cell centres, located in large urban medical centres, used the sickle cell Mobile Application to Record symptoms via Technology (SMART) for ongoing studies. This study combines data from two independent clinical trials with similar daily pain tracking protocols (NCT01833702, NCT02384590). The trial conducted at University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) and Vanderbilt University (Vanderbilt) asked participants to use SMART for at least 6 months, while the clinical study at Duke University (Duke) asked participants to use the app for at least 1 month. Eligible participants were all aged >=18 years with a confirmed diagnosis of SCD.
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