Effects of continuous care based on a mobile health platform on self-management behaviors and quality of life in patients with acute leukemia

Aim To evaluate the effects of continuous care delivered via a mobile health (mHealth) platform on self-management behaviors, quality of life (QoL), medication adherence, psychological distress, daytime sleepiness, cancer-related fatigue (CRF), complications, and rehospitalization in patients with acute leukemia (AL). Methods A total of 108 AL patients discharged between January 2024 and January 2025 were randomly assigned to an observation group ( n = 54) receiving mHealth-based continuous care plus routine follow-up, or a control group ( n = 54) receiving routine continuous care only. The intervention lasted 6 months. Seven patient-reported outcome scales were assessed at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months: self-management behavior (SUPPH with three subscales), QoL (EORTC QLQ-C30 global health status and five functional subscales), medication adherence (MMAS-8), anxiety (SAS), depression (SDS), daytime sleepiness (ESS), cancer-related fatigue (PFS with four subscales). Complications and rehospitalization were recorded throughout the 6-month period. Complications and unplanned rehospitalization were prospectively recorded as cumulative endpoints throughout the 6-month intervention period. For repeated measures, two-way repeated measures ANOVA (group × time) was applied. Results Significant group × time interactions were observed for all continuous variables (all p < 0.001). At 3 and 6 months, the observation group showed progressively better scores. For example, SUPPH total score at 6 months: 86.42 ± 6.13 vs. 71.25 ± 8.54 ( p < 0.001); QLQ-C30 global health status: 78.36 ± 7.21 vs. 62.45 ± 9.18 ( p < 0.001); MMAS-8: 7.18 ± 0.75 vs. 6.05 ± 1.21 ( p < 0.001); SAS: 45.21 ± 4.13 vs. 50.36 ± 5.02 ( p < 0.001); SDS: 46.38 ± 5.22 vs. 53.19 ± 5.64 ( p < 0.001); ESS: 7.32 ± 2.15 vs. 11.68 ± 3.04 ( p < 0.001); PFS total: 3.25 ± 1.02 vs. 5.73 ± 1.48 ( p < 0.001). All subscales followed similar patterns. Complication rate (11.11% vs. 29.63%, p = 0.016) and rehospitalization rate (7.41% vs. 24.07%, p = 0.012) were lower in the observation group. Conclusion Continuous care based on an mHealth platform significantly improves self-management, QoL, medication adherence, psychological outcomes, daytime sleepiness, and fatigue at 3 and 6 months, and reduces complications and rehospitalizations in this single-center cohort of AL patients. These findings require multicenter validation in more diverse populations.