A Telehealth Intervention for Nutritional Counseling in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Patients

Abstract

Nutritional status is one of the most relevant prognostic factors in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), and close monitoring can help avoid severe weight loss over the disease course. We describe the impact of a Chatbot webapp on improving the communications between physicians, patients, and/or caregivers for dietary monitoring. We developed a chatbot that provides patients with a tool to register their meals through an intuitive and carefully designed conversational interface. Patients recorded their dietary intake twice weekly and received an adequate nutritional recommendation monthly. We monitored their functional and nutritional parameters. The data were compared with a control group followed up by standard counseling. We enrolled 26 patients. Regarding feasibility, 96% of participants completed the three-month follow-up, and 77% ended the six months. Regarding the change in weight in the Chatbot group, we observed a weight stabilization (F = 1.874, p-value: 0.310 for changes) over the telehealth compared to the control group (F = 1.710, p-value: 0.024 for changes). A telehealth approach for nutritional support is feasible and reproducible in an ALS setting: frequent monitoring turned out to help prevent further weight loss, allowing an early nutritional strategy adjustment.