Mango Health, the Rock Health startup behind a gamified medication adherence app that launched in April after 16 weeks of beta testing, released aggregated data about adherence habits of its user base.
"Our belief is that understanding how consumers interact with medications and supplements each day is an important part of the quantified self movement that is often overlooked, and an important first step in solving the huge problem of medication non-adherence in the US," CEO Jason Oberfest told MobiHealthNews in an email.
The company released data about its users in a blog post this morning. While Oberfest wouldn't disclose the company's user base because of ongoing discussions with a potential partner, he did tell MobiHealthNews that users have viewed over 1 million medication reminders in the 14 weeks since the app launched. MobiHealthNews's very rough estimate from that data would put Mango's likely user base in the thousands.
According to Mango, 64 percent of all the medications added to the app are prescription drugs and 36 percent are over-the-counter medications or supplements. The number one prescription drug is Lisinopril, which is prescribed for hypertension and congestive heart failure and the number one over-the-counter medication or supplement was fish oil. In general, Oberfest said, statins (a class of drugs taken to lower cholesterol that does not include Lisinopril) were the most common medication entered.
The company also looked at adherence by day of the week and found that, in general, its user base is most adherent on Wednesdays and least adherent on Saturdays. In general, the weekends, including Fridays, fare worst than weekdays for adherence.
Mango Health also tracked adherence by drug. The findings seem to indicate, unsurprisingly, that drugs for mental health conditions have lower adherence than other medications. The drugs Mango users take most consistently include Tamoxifen Citrate (a breast cancer drug), Loestrin (a birth control pill), and Glucophage (a medication for people with diabetes, also known as Metformin). Those most often missed are evening primrose oil (a natural supplement for menstrual cramps), Seroquel (an antipsychotic), Adderall (an ADHD medication), Bupropion (an antidepressant), and Lorazepam (a sedative prescribed for anxiety disorders.)
Some specific insights that Oberfest suggests might help improve adherence also came out of the data. For instance, statins were the most common drugs combined with other drugs, and for at least one drug (Metformin), adherence when taken with a particular statin was as high as 91 percent.
