Use of sound waves through smartphone to monitor urinary flow patterns among rural northern Ontario residents — a potential digital health strategy?
Okechukwu Abara1, Sebastian Diebel2, Ndidi Abara3.
1Division of Urology, Department of Surgery , NOSM Medical University, Sudbury/Thunder Bay, ON, Canada; 2Undergraduate Medical Education, NOSM Medical University, Sudbury/Thunder Bay, ON, Canada; 3Yuma Regional Medical Center, University of Arizona College of Medicine, Yuma, AZ, United States
ONTARIO HEALTH (OTN).
Introduction: Monitoring urinary flow patterns of our patients remains a function of the urologist. There are many devices that serve this purpose and some are home-based. Recent interest in audio-based uroflowmetry applications makes telemedicine and smartphone technologies potential drivers for self-empowerment, improved access, and home-based care. Between June 15, 2021, and February 18, 2022, we evaluated the use of a publicly available electronic uroflow application (app) among residents of rural Northern Ontario to determine if the participants were able to download the app, generate data, and send it to their urologist for review and treatment decisions
Methods: Inclusion criteria were: adults >18 years; own smartphone; internet access; and referred with a urological condition. Informed consent was in English/French. Following a telemedicine assessment, participants were given unique ID numbers and were asked to download the app, use it on four consecutive days for all urination activities, and send data (International Prostate Symptom Score [IPSS], uroflow tracings) to their urologist. There was a followup virtual care visit to review data and treatment options. Feedback was obtained by an online survey. Data collection and analysis were done via Excel and descriptive statistics. The study was approved by the Laurentian University Ethics Review Board.
Results: Out of the 40 participants, 28 (70%) were men and 12 (30%) women, between 22 and 75 years old (average 64 years). Thirty-six of 40 (90%) completed the trial. Urological conditions included benign prostatic hyperplasia, prostate cancer, voiding dysfunction, overactive bladder, hematuria, stones, kidney cancer, and bladder cancer. Most participants continued to use the app and send data after four days (max 60 days, average 12.9 days). All volunteers found the app easy to use. It was simple and provided convenient, multiple urination data for individualized care. There were a few technical issues, all of which were were resolved. There were no comparative studies.
Conclusions: A smartphone app using sound waves is a simple and convenient tool that can potentially provide important urination data for monitoring and therapeutic purposes. Multicenter trials and comparative studies are recommended.
