A Co-Designed and Theory-Based Mobile Health App for Patients with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS): Development and Usability Testing

Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) patients experience debilitating symptoms and struggle to obtain a timely diagnosis. Mobile health (mHealth) and wearable technology may provide health information to empower patients when communicating with providers and in turn shorten the time to diagnosis. We conducted three online co-design focus groups with POTS patients to determine elements of a desirable mHealth intervention. Themes emerged that helped us develop a smartphone- and wearable-based system, using a risk communication model as a message design framework. A pilot randomized trial is ongoing to test the POTS App. Initial results showed the app reaches high usability.