The preventive treatment of recurrent stone-formation: how can we improve compliance in the treatment of patients with recurrent stone disease?

Whether prevention of Urolithiasis is worthwhile is the outcome of the balance between efficacy of prevention and costs and efforts related of respectively prevention and treatment of a new stone. Well controlled trials demonstrate that effective prevention of new stone formation is possible using medical treatment and lifestyle interventions. In long-term general practice the results obtained with preventive interventions is disappointing. Low and diminishing long-term compliance to the intervention is a major cause for this. Both the long-term aspect and the natural resistance to lifestyle changes contribute to this low compliance. From an analysis of the existing data on trials of preventive interventions and from experiences obtained in other patient groups where lifestyle changes are applied I will make the case that self-empowerment of the patient using m-health lifestyle coaching (a smart phone application) can considerably enhance the level of prevention that is obtained in general practice. In conclusion, I will describe what features will improve usage and efficacy of such an app.