Effectiveness of Technology-Assisted Medication Reminder Systems in Neurodegenerative Diseases: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Neurodegenerative diseases are currently irreversible conditions. As these diseases often occur in older people, the patients often have other chronic diseases, leading to the possibility of multiple medications and associated problems such as drug interactions, nonadherence, and adverse reactions. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of technology-assisted medication reminder systems in patients with neurodegenerative or chronic diseases. Additionally, it explores the architecture and design of technology-assisted medication reminder systems alongside their functional modules. A systematic search was conducted through December 2023 across various databases, including PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, Web of Science, and IEEE, for clinical studies on the effectiveness of technology-assisted medication reminders. The preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were followed. The Cochrane risk of bias (RoB) assessment tool was used to assess bias at each stage of each selected study. Statistical analysis was performed with Stata SE 15©. Due to the limited research on this topic, only two articles were included in the study, comprising a total of 240 patients in clinical studies. The results indicated that technology-assisted reminders significantly improved medication adherence. Particularly, the use of mobile apps for medication reminders was more accurate with respect to time and frequency. Our study highlights the importance of feedback and gamification to increase patient engagement with the application. The results emphasise the integration of multifunctional systems to provide relevant information to physicians and caregivers to monitor patient health conditions in real time.