A cell phone-based diary for chronic diseases

Paper medical diaries have effectively been used in chronic diseases. To facilitate self-control of chronic diseases and observe a patient's condition continuously, we developed a cell phone-based personal medical recorder for patients suffering chronic disease. The application was designed to be like a scheduler and implemented as an "i-Appli" (Java2ME application, NTT DoCoMo, Inc., Japan). The patient selects answers from lists and types in numeric data and comments. The application stores laboratory data, such as BP, BUN, creatinine, etc., and other pertinent clinical events, such as headache occurrence, severity, disability, menstruation and medications on each day. The application can customize, add or delete items. Various graphic displays of the data are automatically shown. The data can also be sent to a PC with infrared communications. In a usage trial for chronic hemodialysis or chronic headache, patients were favorably receptive about this application and indicated they wanted to continue using it.