Mobile technology offers novel insights into the control and treatment of allergic rhinitis: The MASK study.

Background: Mobile health can be used to generate innovativeinsights into optimizing treatment to improve allergic rhinitis(AR) control.Objectives: A cross-sectional real-world observational studywas undertaken in 22 countries to complement a pilot study andprovide novel information on medication use, disease control,and work productivity in the everyday life of patients with AR.Methods: A mobile phone app (Allergy Diary, which is freelyavailable on Google Play and Apple stores) was used to collect thedata of daily visual analogue scale (VAS) scores for (1) overallallergic symptoms; (2) nasal, ocular, and asthma symptoms; (3)work; and (4) medication use by using a treatment scroll listincluding all allergy medications (prescribed and over-the-counter) customized for 22 countries. The 4 most commonintranasal medications containing intranasal corticosteroids and8oralH1-antihistamines were studied.Results: Nine thousand one hundred twenty-two users filled in112,054 days of VASs in 2016 and 2017. Assessment of days wasinformative. Control of days with rhinitis differed between no(best control), single (good control for intranasal corticosteroid–treated days), or multiple (worst control) treatments. Users withthe worst control increased the range of treatments being used.The same trend was found for asthma, eye symptoms, and workproductivity. Differences between oral H1-antihistamines werefound.Conclusions: This study confirms the usefulness of theAllergyDiaryin accessing and assessing behavior in patients with AR.This observational study using a very simple assessment tool(VAS) on a mobile phone had the potential to answer questionspreviously thought infeasible