RETRACTED ARTICLE: Improving usability and pregnancy rates of a fertility monitor by an additional mobile application: results of a retrospective efficacy study of Daysy and DaysyView app

Abstract

BackgroundDaysy is a fertility monitor that uses the fertility awareness method by tracking and analyzing the individual menstrual cycle. In addition, Daysy can be connected to the application DaysyView to transfer stored personal data from Daysy to a smartphone or tablet (IOS, Android). This combination is interesting because as it is shown in various studies, the use of apps is increasing patients´ focus on their disease or their health behavior. The aim of this study was to investigate if by the additional use of an App and thereby improved usability of the medical device, it is possible to enhance the typical-use related as well as the method-related pregnancy rates.ResultIn the resultant group of 125 women (2076 cycles in total), 2 women indicated that they had been unintentionally pregnant during the use of the device, giving a typical-use related Pearl-Index of 1.3. Counting only the pregnancies which occurred as a result of unprotected intercourse during the infertile (green) phase, we found 1 pregnancy, giving a method-related Pearl-Index of 0.6. Calculating the pregnancy rate resulting from continuous use and unprotected intercourse exclusively on green days, gives a perfect-use Pearl-Index of 0.8.ConclusionIt seems that combining a specific biosensor-embedded device (Daysy), which gives the method a very high repeatable accuracy, and a mobile application (DaysyView) which leads to higher user engagement, results in higher overall usability of the method.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s12978-018-0479-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Use of menstruation and fertility app trackers: a scoping review of the evidence

“…Koch et al 31 presented the results of a retrospective efficacy study of the free DaysyView app. The DaysyView app was designed to improve the usability and pregnancy rates of a companion fertility monitor (a biosensor-embedded device used to measure basal body temperature) called ‘Daysy’.…”

“…The review highlights a growing evidence base on apps marketed to prevent pregnancy with evidence suggesting that some apps are useful for women who do not want to rely on hormonal methods of contraception or do not want to use condoms 16–19 31. However, not all apps accurately predict the fertile window and women may be using apps for pregnancy prevention that have not been designed for this purpose 36.…”

Typical use effectiveness of Natural Cycles: postmarket surveillance study investigating the impact of previous contraceptive choice on the risk of unintended pregnancy

“…In recent years, there has been a surge in the use of fertility awareness-based applications for contraception and family planning. Several studies of varying size, design and quality have investigated the effectiveness of the more popular applications for contraception 1–6. The popularity of these applications has highlighted a significant unmet need for effective non-hormonal alternatives to traditional contraceptive options.…”

Current Resources for Evidence‐Based Practice, July/August 2020

“…The DOT website currently shows that the standalone app is no longer available. The study supporting the DaysView app used with the Days basal thermometer was withdrawn as a publication for methodological flaws 12 …”