Long-term Follow-up of Patients With Hernia Using the Hernia-Specific Quality-of-Life Mobile App: Feasibility Questionnaire Study

Abstract

Background Hernia repair is one of the most common surgical procedures; however, the long-term outcomes are seldom reported due to incomplete follow-up. Objective The aim of this study was to examine the use of a mobile app for the long-term follow-up of hernia recurrence, complication, and quality-of-life perception. Methods A cloud-based corroborative system drove a mobile app with the HERQL (Hernia-Specific Quality-of-Life) questionnaire built in. Patients who underwent hernia repair were identified from medical records, and an invitation to participate in this study was sent through the post. Results The response rate was 11.89% (311/2615) during the 1-year study period, whereas the recurrence rate was 1.0% (3/311). Causal relationships between symptomatic and functional domains of the HERQL questionnaire were indicated by satisfactory model fit indices and significant regression coefficients derived from structural equational modeling. Regarding patients’ last hernia surgeries, 88.7% (276/311) of the patients reported them to be satisfactory or very satisfactory, 68.5% (213/311) of patients reported no discomfort, and 61.1% (190/311) of patients never experienced mesh foreign body sensation. Subgroup analysis for the most commonly used mesh repairs found that mesh plug repair inevitably resulted in worse symptoms and quality-of-life perception from the group with groin hernias. Conclusions The mobile app has the potential to enhance the quality of care for patients with hernia and facilitate outcomes research with more complete follow-up.