Table 2 Main results and conclusions of reviewed papers
Paper | Author/year | Main results and conclusions |
|---|---|---|
Paper 1: Assessment of the health IT usability evaluation model (Health-ITUEM) for evaluating mobile health (mHealth) technology | Brown et al. [43] | This work analyzes the assessment model ITUEM (Health-ITUEM) usability in adolescents when evaluating the usability of Health Apps |
Paper 2: Capillary array waveguide amplified fluorescence detector for mHealth | Balsam et al. [44] | This work aims to improve the operation of the optical detector in mobile phones through the expansion of fluorescent signals to be used in health apps with diagnostic purposes |
Paper 3: Development and validation of an instrument to Measure user perceived service quality of mHealth | Akter et al. [31] | Pilot study to develop a scale for measuring the quality perceived by the user regarding the mHealth which showed a clear link between service quality and satisfaction, as well as satisfaction and continuity in use, as well as between the quality of service and continued use |
Paper 4: An autonomous mobile system for the management of COPD | Van der Heijden et al. [25] | Work based on the development of an app to detect exacerbations in COPD patients through the use of a spirometer and pulse oximeter. The evaluation showed that the model can reliably detect exacerbations and the pilot study suggests that an intervention based on this system may be successful |
Paper 5: Mobile health in emerging countries: A survey of research initiatives in Brazil | Iwaya et al. [25] | Systematic review to see the state of development of mHealth initiatives in Brazil. Most projects were focused on health surveys and surveillance and patient records and monitoring, the majority being deployed as prototypes for testing and being supported by the university |
Paper 6: The feasibility of using SMS as a health survey tool: An exploratory study in patients with rheumatoid arthritis | Lee et al. [26] | This research tests the feasibility of using SMS as a tool for the study of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. It proved feasible, reducing response time and at a lower price than mail or postal mail |
Paper 7: H_pe for mHealth: More “y” or “o” on the horizon? | Labrique et al. [27] | Letter to the editor in which appear a criticism of the changes and development that is occurring in mHealth, with a saturation of pilot studies, unclassifiable designs impossible to extrapolate to larger sample sizes and with a lack of evidence |
Paper 8: Context-based and rule-based adaptation of mobile user interfaces in mHealth | Alnanih et al. [28] | Study where a user interface (MUI) is developed to serve as a bridge between any application and the health professional. The results showed that the proposed improvement did not increase the efficacy, safety, navigation, productivity or efficiency in the work. Neither it increased its satisfaction |
Paper 9: A Proposal of mobile system to support scenario-based learning for health promotion | Menezes et al. [29] | The document presents “KNOW Communities” which includes a series of virtual scenarios where the goal is to present health problems for students, workers and population, allowing developing educational activities. No results are displayed |
Paper 10: Status and trends of mobile-health applications for iOS devices: A developer’s perspective | Liu et al. [13] | Study of 159 applications from the AppStore, approached from the perspective of developers, looking at features like architecture, interface design, etc. The purpose of the text is to be used as a reference and guide for anyone who wants to develop on iOS |
Paper 11: mCHOIS: An Application of mobile technology for childhood obesity surveillance | Datta et al. [45] | The development of an application is described to facilitate the collection of data (mChois) that aims to overcome the limitations of a web for childhood obesity (chois) that depended on the Internet. The application allows the collection and storage of data locally and is now being used by “The Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS)” for school health program |
Paper 12: Evaluating the use of mobile phone technology to enhance cardiovascular disease screening by community health workers | Surka et al. [46] | The purpose of this study is to develop an application that assess the risk of cardiovascular disease, assessing its impact on health staff and the duration of the screening, compared with paper-based. The application was considered easy to use, faster and more accurate, but with a worse visual display to explain the risk to the population |
Paper 13: Recognizing whether sensors are on the same body | Cornelius and Kotz [47] | The proposition of this paper is to improve connectivity with sensors Smartphone. It shows a probabilistic model to look for correlations between sensors and accelerometers of your device to avoid the above mentioned problem. The new model achieved an accuracy of 85 % |
Paper 14: LabPush: a pilot study of providing remote Clinics with laboratory results via short message service (SMS) in Swaziland, Africa—a qualitative study | Hao et al. [35] | The study presents the use of short message service (SMS) “LabPush” to send the most important results to the professionals, to facilitate and accelerate decision-making. SMS method shortened the turnaround time of results. The professionals expressed satisfaction at the prospect of starting treatment earlier, because communication with the laboratory was improved and if results were lost, it was easily recovered by a call |
Paper 15: Thousand-fold fluorescent signal Amplification for mHealth diagnostics | Balsam et al. [32] | Capillary array focus and image stacking computer that is capable of amplifying the weak fluorescent signals, thereby improving the sensitivity of the optical sensors of mobile devices. It is the same studio as Article 2 |
Paper 16: A literature review on attitudes of health professionals towards health information systems: from e-Health to m- Health | Sezgin and Ozkan Yildirim [30] | The study presents a review of the acceptance of health information systems by health professionals. Through various theoretical models it gets explained the purpose of the health professionals in the use of health technologies with high rates of variability |
Paper 17: Are we sure that Mobile Health is really mobile? An examination of mobile device use during two remotely- delivered weight loss interventions | Turner-McGrievya and Tateb [37] | This study compared the effectiveness in terms of access to information in the traditional way (desktops, laptops…) against mobile, and if they affect the results of commitment and health in a weight loss intervention in 137 patients. It showed greater weight loss for those who used the mobile device |
Paper 18: A Classification scheme for analyzing mobile apps used to prevent and manage disease in late life | Wang et al. [15] | The study carried out the classification of 119 mobile applications from the AppStore in the categories of health and welfare for the elderly. The classification was carried out satisfactorily, reaching 100 % agreement between what was developed in the study and what was conducted by two external encoders. This system give you a view of the distribution of applications to developers and allow users to know which one suits your needs. |
Paper 19: A data encryption solution for mobile health apps in cooperation environments | Silva et al. [87] | The study has the goal to develop a system of data encryption (DE4MHA) to guarantee the security of data. That the app had a similar behaviour to the one it would have without the data encryption system was achieved, so that quality was also guaranteed. The system could be adapted to other apps of mHealth |
Paper 20: Adherence to evidence-based guidelines among diabetes self-management apps | Breland et al. [86] | The research has the goal to evaluate if 411 apps used for diabetes self-management followed the guidelines based on scientific evidence. From the 7 self- management behaviours recommended by the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) most of them just accomplished 1 or 2 |
Paper 21: A mobile app offering distractions and tips to cope with cigarette craving: a qualitative study | Ploderer et al. [16] | The article shows the development of the app “DistractMe” which permits whoever wants to stop smoking, the access to different type of distractions and tips to cope with smoking craving. With a small simple of 14 smokers, 5 patients reported a favourable use of the evasive technique and other 9 reported a favourable use permiting to avoid smoking instead of other activities |
Paper 22: A newborn baby care support app and system for mHealth | Kuo et al. [36] | The study describes the development of an app with two subsystems “Baby’s Health Record System (BHRS) and “Baby Care Consultation System” (BCCS) which allows mums to have a better care of their newborn. From the 64 women studied, the most of them were satisfied with the app |
Paper 23: A Personal health information toolkit for health intervention research | Kizakevich et al. [49] | The article presents the development of the toolkit PHIT(Personal Health Intervention Toolkit) to facilitate the investigation and development of applications in health interventions in chronic diseases, health control with data collection, etc. Most of the 31 patients who participated, valued the app over percentile 95. |
Paper 24: A smartphone-based pain management app for adolescents with cancer: establishing system requirements and a pain care algorithm based on literature review, interviews, and consensus. | Jibb et al. [40] | The development of an algorithm of decision was aimed in base on the evidence for the better pain care in adolescents with cancer. It was determined that the interventions including the support of therapists are more efficient and it was recommended to include patients and/or relatives both in the development and in the design of the app |
Paper 25: Availability and quality of mobile health app privacy policies | Sunyaev et al. [50] | The document presents an analysis in the privacy policy of the apps of mHealth.The analysis is focused on the 600 mobile Health app more used for Android and IOS. It showed that only the 30 % had privacy policy and these were insufficient |
Paper 26: Behavior change techniques implemented in electronic lifestyle activity monitors: a systematic content analysis | Lyons et al. [24] | The study analyses 13 electronic lifestyle activity monitors to find out which of the fourteen techniques identified in the literature are founded with the aim of increasing them. All them had a similar behaviour, suing the app to direct the information. The techniques and recommendations were based on the scientific literature. From the 14 identified as potentially efficient in behaviour change, the monitors included between 5 and 10 |
Paper 27: ClereMed: lessons learned from a pilot study of a mobile screening tool to identify and support adults who have difficulty with medication labels | Grindrod et al. [17] | The study presents a prototype of an app (“ClereMed”) to identify people who have difficulty reading, poor ability in handling medication and cognitive impairment, and to assess the acceptance of touch devices in older people. We Studied 47 elderly. 84 % of participants stated that the application was easy to use. In terms of reading difficulty, it was correctly identified 72 %.Only 21 % of participants showed cognitive difficulties |
Paper 28: Commercially available mobile Pone headache diary apps: a systematic review | Hundert A.S., et al. [14] | In this paper 7 rules guideline was created as minimum requirements for considering that an application was useful in the management and control of headache. 38 apps were studied. None of them met all the criteria and neither was published in scientific literature, and only 3 met five of them. It showed a lack of scientific knowledge and evidence in this type of application |
Paper 29: Comparison of mobile apps for the leading causes of death among different income zones: a review of the literature and app stores | Martínez-Pérez et al. [51] | It is a review that seeks to compare research and the number of mobile applications for diseases and conditions that are major causes of death according to the WHO, based on the income of regions. The results show applications of high-income regions are more common, with some exceptions such as HIV/AIDS and cancer of airway. It shows more effort in commercial work than in the research in this application field |
Paper 30: Comparison of traditional versus mobile app self- monitoring of physical activity and dietary intake among overweight adults participating in an mHealth weight loss program | Turner-McGrievy et al. [37] | The paper presents a study of 96 overweight individuals, whose purpose is to analyse the relationship between diet, self-monitoring of physical activity and eating habits by following different types of monitoring (mobile applications, web diary on paper). The group using the mobile application to control physical activity showed better results |
Paper 31: Contemporary vascular smartphone medical applications | Carter et al. [52] | The text presents a search for the availability of applications with vascular diseases as a theme in main application stores, as well as possible integration in practice. 49 were located, of which only 13 documented the participation of a medical professional in the design or content. It was concluded that the use of mHealth could be potentially beneficial, but it also showed a lack of high scientific quality apps |
Paper 32: Design of an mHealth app for the self-management of adolescent type 1 diabetes: a pilot study | Cafazzo et al. [42] | The objective is the design, development and implementation of a study for the management of type 1 diabetes in 20 adolescents. There was an increase in daily average frequency of measurement by 50 %. Another study is needed to assess the improvement of HbA1c |
Paper 33: Development of a Smartphone App for a Genetics Website: The Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Online Genetics Database (ALSoD) | Abel et al. [53] | The paper presents the development of a mobile version of the web “Genetics The ALS Online Database (ALSoD)” and an application for smartphone which allows easier and wider access. It showed an increase of 26 % of visits to the website and a 230 % increase in visits through mobile devices |
Paper 34: Development of DASH Mobile a mHealth lifestyle change intervention for the management of hypertension | Mann et al. [23] | It presents the development of “Mobile DASH” application for Android, based on the DASH diet for the control and management of hypertension is exposed. No results included |
Paper 35: Effectiveness of a smart phone app on improving immunization of children in rural Sichuan Province, China: study protocol for a paired cluster randomized controlled trial | Chen et al. [54] | It presents the protocol of a study evaluating the effectiveness of an application to increase the level of immunization in the province of Sichuan (China) The primary outcome is the total dose coverage and the secondary is the coverage in other five vaccines of the expanded program of immunization. No results are shown |
Paper 36: Electronic data capture in a rural African setting: evaluating experiences with different systems in Malawi | King et al. [38] | The text seeks to highlight the advantages and disadvantages of different systems of electronic data capture (EDC) used simultaneously in rural Malawi, to increase information and research. Workers preferred the EDC to paper-based systems and create a profitable system in the long term |
Paper 37: Evaluation of an mHealth intervention aiming to improve health-related behavior and sleep and reduce fatigue among airline pilots | van Drongele et al. [33] | The study shows the effects of an intervention of mHealth in 502 airline pilots to reduce problems of fatigue, sleep and improve their perception of health through the app “MORE energy”. The intervention group improved quality of sleep, fatigue, strenuous physical activity, diet and rest |
Paper 38: Evaluation of the accuracy of smartphone medical calculation apps | Bierbrier et al. [55] | The objective of this document is to analyze the accuracy of smartphone medical calculation apps offered by different stores 14 apps were analyzed and 13 functions for each of them. 10 cases for each one were carried out, being the results compared to the manual calculations. The total accuracy was 98,6 % and 43 % of the apps had an accuracy of 100 % |
Paper 39: Exploring the usability of a mobile app for adolescent obesity management | O’Malley et al. [18] | The study proved the usability of the application “Reactivate” for the control of obesity in 10 adolescents. There were not showed results about the clinical effectiveness, although it was evaluated that it was more efficient It was also collected the need of the app working for iPhone, that the colours were brighter and the text bigger |
Paper 40: Food and Drug Administration regulation of diabetes-related mHealth technologies | Brooke and Thompson [56] | The text tries to shed light on the regulation of FDA about the applications related qwith diabetes and it contributes with a convincing conclusion by which more clarity is required in the regulation of the applications devoted to diabetes |
Paper 41: FoodSwitch: A Mobile Phone App to Enable Consumers to Make Healthier Food Choices and Crowdsourcing of National Food Composition Data | Dunford et al. [19] | The paper describes the development of a mobile application (“FootSwitch”) to help Australian population to a better understanding of the nutritional information of the foods in order to facilitate a better choice, using a database of 17,000 packaged foods that could be increased through “crowd-sourcing” |
Paper 42: Health professionals as mobile content creators: teaching medical students to develop mHealth applications | Masters [57] | The research highlights the need to train medical students in the development of applications. “IBuildApp” is presented as applications development environment.107 students were surveyed about the perception of the project. The most perceived need was to increase learning, specially the programming which was considered the main factor of influence. The impact of the experience was similar to other studies |
Paper 43: Ideas and enhancements related to mobile applications to support type 1 diabetes | Pulman et al. [20] | The objective of this study was to develop an application for the management of type 1 diabetes in young people. The app was aimed to offer quality services and improve the own “health-related quality of life (HRQOL)” of users, with input from experts and end-user over design. The researchers conducted the development of three prototypes of which one was chosen by nine respondents. Thus the data for prototyping and improving existing ones were taken, trying to suit the needs of the age group |
Paper 44: iMHere: A novel mHealth system for supporting self-care in management of complex and chronic conditions | Parmanto et al. [58] | The paper presents the development of one mobile application titled “IMHere” and a medical portal to provide two-way communication. The application has the function of supporting self-care tasks, receiving and sending data of adherence and self-care regimes under supervision. The clinical phase of the study was being conducted. No results are shown |
Paper 45: Implementation of an App-based neuromuscular training programme to prevent ankle sprains: a process evaluation using the RE-AIM Framework | Vriend et al. [59] | The paper presents an evaluation of the effectiveness of the App “Versterk je Enkel” focused on the prevention of recurrent ankle sprains. The application reached only 2.6 % (n = 82) of the target population. The use of the resource pointed that compliance with the integrated program was low. Efforts to ensure the proper collection and the use of app by the target population are needed |
Paper 46: Improving adherence physical activity with a smartphone application based on adults with intellectual disabilities (APPCOID) | Pérez-Cruzado and Cuesta-Vargas [60] | Given the low levels of physical activity in people with mental disabilities, a research protocol aimed to improving the adherence to physical activity (based on the use of an app) in these patients is presented. No results are displayed |
Paper 47: Low- intensity self-management intervention for persons with type 2 diabetes using a mobile phone-based diabetes diary, with and without health counseling and motivational interviewing: protocol for a randomized controlled trial | Ribu et al. [41] | The document presents a research aimed to assess the effectiveness in controlling diabetes of 151 patients, using three different interventions, one of them based on the use of one app. 17.2 % of the participants were lost to follow up at the publication time and 7.3 % were still in the trial. It indicated that the results would be published in 2014 |
Paper 48: Mapping mHealth Research: A Decade of Evolution | Fiordelli et al. [61] | The paper provides an overview of how the emergence of the new generation of phones has led to research on eHealth between 2002 and 2012, studying a sample of 117 papers. Most of them were published in medical journals, highlighting studies aimed to assess the control of chronic diseases through the use of mobile devices. It is concluded that mapping the evolution of this topic will allow a better understanding of their strengths and weaknesses, providing a very useful information for future developments |
Paper 49: mHealth 2.0: experiences, possibilities, and perspectives | Becker et al. [21] | The paper is an opinion letter referring to the importance of mHealth as a tool to provide universal access to services, the importance of taking into account developmental psychosocial variables and the model of technological development of countries. It also says that criticism and reviews help users to trust these applications and test them, so inter-professional collaboration becomes essential in mHealth 2.0 |
Paper 50: mHealth and mobile medical Apps: a framework to assess risk and promote safer use | Lewis and Wyatt [62] | The document identifies various risks that mobile applications can pose to patient safety. A generic risk framework is also developed for users and developers, being a useful tool for the evaluation of specific applications in any particular context |
Paper 51: mHealth: a strategic field without a solid scientific soul. a systematic review of pain-related apps | de la Vega and Miró [63] | A systematic review of the pain-related apps available in scientific databases and the main application shops was carried out to provide an overview of the current state of development of mHealth. 47 papers and 283 apps were found, showing a big gap between the research part and trade, since the vast majority of applications was not supported by scientific evidence |
Paper 52: mHealth data collector: an application to collect and report indicators for assessment of cardiometabolic risk | Shishido et al. [64] | The paper presents “mHealth Data Collector”, an application that contains data and information associated with metabolic risk. After interviewing 45 health professionals who had used it, the researchers evidenced a reduction of time in the interview, a better collection, organization and retrieval of data, as well as standardization of the information entered into the system. The assessment of usability (ease of use, charging time, selecting the screen resolution, etc.) was also very positive |
Paper 53: mHealth tools for the pediatric patient-centered medical home | Slaper and Conkol [65] | This paper is a review where performance and conceptual framework of some tools to perform the “pediatric patient-centered medical home (PCMH)” are discussed. This PMTCT is defined as a place to care for this type of patient which have to be accessible, continuous, comprehensive, family-centered, coordinated, compassionate and culturally effective. The document presented mHealth as a resource that can help to satisfy this necessity |
Paper 54: Mobile applications for diabetics: a systematic review and expert-based usability evaluation considering the special requirements of diabetes patients age 50 years or older | Arnhold et al. [83] | This document is a systematic review of 656 applications available to assist in the self-management of diabetes mellitus types 1 and 2, considering the range of functions, groups of target users, etc. 10 % was used to evaluate the usability. An increase in the number of apps from 2008 to 2013 was appreciated and most ot them offered only one function and were intended for patients. 34.5 % provided general information about the disease. Usability decreased with increasing number of functions and was moderate to good for users over 50 years |
Paper 55: Mobile apps in cardiology: review | Martínez-Pérez et al. [66] | The study presents a review of the literature of the main databases (406 papers) and applications stores (710 apps) to study the resources available with respect to cardiovascular disease. Only few items related to mobile applications were found. A great disparity was evident in the field of cardiology applications, having a lot of research on certain issues, while others were abandoned. It also emphasized that there was no link between the offered apps and the scientific production |
Paper 56: Mobile clinical decision support systems and applications: a literature and commercial review | Martínez-Pérez et al. [67] | The document presents a review of applications developed to help in clinical decision making (CDDS) at the main databases (92 items) and the Android and Apple stores (192 apps). Articles made explicit that apps were developed for research purposes and were not available in stores. The Apps available were devoted to general practice and almost half directed to specialists. Developers focused on diseases that are the main cause of death, more prevalent and more disabling |
Paper 57: Mobile health applications for the most prevalent conditions by the World Health Organization: review and analysis | Martínez-Pérez et al. [68] | Based on the eight most prevalent health conditions marked by WHO in 2004, the study presents a review of the literature (247 papers) in different databases and applications (3673 apps) of the main stores. Distribution of mobile applications did not correspond to the prevalence of health conditions. Results also found less applications in the literature, which led to think that there is more economic commercial motivation than research reasons. Diabetes and depression, health conditions prevalent in developed countries, were the focus of most research and applications |
Paper 58: Mobile health applications: the patchwork of legal and liability issues suggests strategies to improve oversight | Yang and Silverman [69] | The text shows the state of the US legislation regarding mHealth. The lack of regulation regarding medical leaves, responsibility, possible negligence by the professional using an application, privacy when storing patient data, etc., are complex issues to cover despite legislative efforts |
Paper 59: Mobile medical and health apps: state of the art, concerns, regulatory control and certification | Boulos et al. [70] | The document presents a review of studies evaluating health applications. The concept of “application as a medical device” and regulation that currently exists in the US and Europe is also discussed. An example of voluntary application for certification in the US market named “Happtique Health App Certification Program” is presented in the text. As to make a thorough control of the apps is very complicated, it is proposed to educate patients and users about what is the best use to give to these applications |
Paper 60: Mobile mental wellness training for stress management: feasibility and design implications based on a one-month field study | Ahtinen et al. [71] | The paper is focused on the study of the use and results of the “Oiva” application, which was developed for the prevention and management of work-related stress and mental health problems in 15 workers. Significant changes were observed in the scores of stress and satisfaction with life, but not in the psychological flexibility. A significant increase was also evident in the improvement or maintenance of well-being, learning new skills and gain new ideas. It was perceived as easy to use, acceptable and useful |
Paper 61: mSpray: a mobile phone technology to improve malaria control efforts and monitor human exposure to malaria control pesticides in Limpopo, South Africa | Eskenazi et al. [34] | The paper examines the effectiveness and usability of the app “mSpray” in 13 workers. The app was created to collect data from areas under sprays to control malaria, seeking to improve the currently used, paper-based system. The application included geo-location and use of spreadsheets to lead a real-time observation. The times were improved and errors with the above method were detected. Workers preferred “mSpray” system over the traditional system. |
Paper 62: Physical activity, sedentary behavior and total wellness changes Among sedentary adults: a 4-week randomized controlled trial | Barwais et al. [72] | The study presents a four-week intervention program with 33 individuals using a staff monitor online activity, designed to reduce sedentary time and increasing physical activity. Results were compared to control group which continued normal life. Sedentary time was reduced in the intervention group, and the time of light, moderate and intense activity was increased. Researchers do not appreciate changes in the control group |
Paper 63: Pilot study using mobile health to coordinate the diabetic patient, diabetologist, and ophthalmologist | Tsui et al. [73] | The paper presents a pilot study with 60 diabetic patients to assess the “Sightbook” application, which seeks the coordination between the patient, the physician who follows the diabetes patient and ophthalmologist and offers a self-assessment of visual function. The app is considered useful because research showed that a high percentage had diabetic retinopathy and other risk factors, so to consult ophthalmologist was necessary |
Paper 64: Preferences for a Mobile HIV Prevention App for Men Who Have Sex With Men | Goldenberg et al. [74] | The paper describes how it should be an application that would promote the homosexual population to participate in HIV prevention. To do this, several focus group discussions were conducted (n = 38). It was evidenced that apps should have innovative ideas, educate and engage men to motivate them to use the application. Feeling safe and have the confidence was important, so the importance of protecting the privacy language and stressed was highlighted. To achieve adherence to the App, it should be easy to use, attractive and pushing homosexuals to concern about their safety |
Paper 65: Randomized, controlled pilot trial of a smartphone app for smoking Cessation using Acceptance and commitment therapy | Bricker et al. [39] | The paper shows a comparative study of two mobile applications to quit smoking (“SmartQuit” and “QuitGuide”) based on different approaches. SmartQuit users open the application an average of 37 times versus 15 times from QuitGuide users. The quit rate was 13 % vs. 5 %. The authors indicate that the experimental design and low sample size prevents extrapolate the effectiveness of Apps |
Paper 66: Sexual and reproductive health for young adults in Colombia: teleconsultation using mobile devices | Lopez et al. [22] | This document describes the research with 58 young people and adults in Bogota, Colombia. The study is aimed to evaluate the use of an app focused on the resolution of questions on health, with pre- and post-intervention survey. The main topics consulted were risks that they take not using a condom during sex, consumption of psychoactive drugs and lack of knowledge about sexually transmitted diseases. The results indicate that the strategy proposed was well accepted by young people. Although no significant result was evidenced, it is stated that the strategy proposed was well accepted by young people |
Paper 67: Smartphone breast applications—What’s the evidence? | Mobasheri et al. [75] | The paper analyzed 185 applications focused on pathologies and breast problems. A large disconnect between the development of Apps and health professionals, and a marked lack of scientific evidence was showed. A review of the information provided is recommended, as well as add bibliographic references and mention the authors |
Paper 68: Study of the usability of spaced retrieval Exercise using mobile devices for Alzheimer’s disease rehabilitation | Zmily et al. [76] | The research consists in a clinical-trial with 10 participants in early stages of Alzheimer’s, to whom was offering them two versions of the App “ADcope”, to enhance their abilities to perform activities of daily living and to promote their independence and social participation. The results are better in version based on images; although there was a good adaptation to the use and satisfaction of participants in both of them |
Paper 69: Supporting cancer patients in illness management: usability evaluation of a mobile app | Mirkovic et al. [77] | This study is focused on the analysis of design, functionality and usability of a prototype App “Mobile Connect”, which is presented as a support to 7 cancer patients in managing their health, encouraging communication, management of symptoms, decision making, etc. Evidenced usability was very good (72 %). Researches also evidenced that to take into account the needs of users for developing this type of applications must be prerequisite for its development |
Paper 70: The current status of mHealth for diabetes: will it be the next big thing? | Klonoff [78] | This paper presents a review of the role of mHealth in diabetes, presenting it as a value resource to monitoring diabetic patients through applications with glycemic control, which can be added to monitor other values. Researchers discussed that apps facilitate the monitoring and planning of personal goals, enabling better patient outcomes. However, lack of research, quality and rigour, as well as the need to overcome barriers such as privacy, the clinical benefit and economic returns, make difficult to give them a clinical use |
Paper 71: The development of a mobile monitoring and feedback tool to stimulate physical activity of people with a chronic disease in primary care: a user-centered design | van der Weegen et al. [79] | This paper describes the development of an application to monitor an increase physical activity in chronic patients. 15 patients and 16 health professionals were involved in the research. It emphasizes the need to develop apps under an user-centred model. No clinical results are shown |
Paper 72: The schisto track: a system for gathering and monitoring epidemiological surveys by connecting geographical information systems in real time | Leal Neto et al. [80] | The document shows us the development and main features of the app “Schisto Track”, created to facilitate the data collection on schistosomiasis. The app proved to be helpful to automate the activity, organizing data, retrieving, etc., so their use is recommended. In addition, the text describes how two types of access were used. A general access for users and other restricted to researchers involved in the project, ensuring that the database had information safe and confinable |
Paper 73: Usage of multilingual mobile translation applications in clinical settings | Albrecht et al. [81] | Effectiveness “Xpromt” application as a tool to multilanguage support through interaction with the patient through a mobile device is evaluated in this research. Researchers offered the application to 39 health professionals. The results showed that, despite positively assess translation applications for communication with patients, there was no enthusiasm for “Xprompt”. While experts had clear expectations, users will not see benefit over time to be used in clinical settings. Finally, the authors remark the importance of assessing the degree of user acceptance for the development of these apps |
Paper 74: User Preferences and Design Recommendations for an mHealth App to Promote Cystic Fibrosis Self-Management | Hilliard et al. [82] | The study attempts to define the characteristics that an app for adolescents with cystic fibrosis must have, for which the researchers combined qualitative and quantitative techniques in 16 participants. They expressed that access to information, automate the prescription process, and encourage communication with the staff care and family using the app, are very important resources that could be present in the app. It was also assessed positively the creation of a social network to bring together people and families in order to share experiences |
Paper 75: Weight loss-there is an app for that! But does it adhere to evidence-informed practices? | Breton et al. [84] | The paper reviews and summarizes the content of the applications available on iTunes in 2009 (204), according to 13 practical for weight control based on scientific evidence. No application included the 13 practices. They found much variability regarding the number of practices, including 2 of them (daily food and weight evaluation) in 30 % of the apps. The most frequent resources were the interactive tool, nutritional data bases and educational material. |
Paper 76: Who Uses Smoking Cessation Apps? A Feasibility Study Across Three Countries via Smartphones | BinDhim et al. [85] | The paper presents a comparative study of the characteristics of 602 users of “Quit Advisor”. This is an application to quit smoking. The research was carried out during 1 year in Australia, United Kingdom and United States. No significant differences in the average age of users and attempts to quit smoking between countries were found, but differences by gender and stage of change was evidenced. 77.5 % of users who had used previously other apps health, expressed do not take into account the credibility of the developer |
Paper 77: Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension: Lessons Learned From a Case Study on the Development of an mHealth Behavior Change System | Mann et al. [88] | The study describes the development of an application of behavioural reducing hypertension based on the DASH diet. It takes into account the multimedia content, wireless devices (which can connect to the app), security and usability. The article concludes with 10 lessons learned during the development of the application, which highlights the need to break with tradition, the importance of a multidisciplinary approach, the platform features, the prototype must be flexible and scalable and the fact of that it is advisable to contact technological trade experts to grow through investors |
Paper 78: Daily mood ratings via text message as a proxy for clinic based depression assessment | Aguilera et al. [89] | The aim of this research was to determine whether the information derived from the ratings of mood through SMS could serve as a reliable indicator for assessing the mood in clinical settings. 33 patients with depression were studied. As a control the PHQ-9 (Patient Health Questionnaire-9) was used. The results show that the SMS could fulfill this role |
Paper 79: Incorporating customer empowerment in mobile health | Almunawara et al. [90] | This paper presents a health model that incorporates client empowerment in the mHealth in three dimensions: personal, social and medical. In addition, a survey was conducted to 366 individuals to assess their perception of the subject, as well as requirements for the model. Researchers concluded that the model integrated the widest scope of empowerment in the three proposed areas, serving as a guide to extend the empowerment of customers through mHealth |
Paper 80: Anytime, anywhere access to secure, privacy-aware healthcare services: Issues, approaches and challenges | Anwar et al. [91] | This paper consists in a review aimed to rationalize and explore safety issues related to privacy in the mHealth. The authors examine existing approaches, addressing issues such as institutional infrastructure and government and policy challenges among countries to address the issues of security and privacy |
Paper 81: Clinical laboratory data: acquire, analyze, communicate, liberate | Azzazy and Elbehery [92] | This review focuses on the use of smartphones to acquire, analyze, communicate, and deliver clinical laboratory data. The paper concludes that this resource can dramatically improve the quality and quantity of health assistance offered in the areas of limited resources |
Paper 82: Photograph-based diagnosis of burns in patients with dark-skin types: The importance of case and assessor characteristics | Boissin et al. [93] | This study evaluated whether photographs of burns taken with a mobile from patients with darker skin types, could be used for diagnosis. 21 cases of varying complexity were studied and conducted a survey through the web. It was concluded that the size and depth of burns in these patients could be evaluated with photographs, at least as well as with the simple view in clinical settings, since the average accuracy rates were 67.5 and 66.0 % respectively |
Paper 83: Mobile Health: empowering patients and driving change | Bradway et al. [94] | This document, after analyzing (literature review) the development of mHealth in the field of diabetes, concludes that although there has been good progress in apps for this medical condition, only a few of them have been validated and recognized to be used as tools for self-management of the disease. Therefore stresses the need to propose measures including the creation of a protocol to choose and use these tools or to establish financing plans and sustainability |
Paper 84: Electronic personal maternity records: Both weband smartphone services | Chang et al. [95] | This paper presents a multi-platform information system (web and smartphones) to help women during pregnancy. 5 developers evaluated the usability through heuristics model of Nielsen, and 68 pregnant women completed a satisfaction survey. 80.9 % of respondents stated that the system was useful for controlling pregnancy |
Paper 85: From black box to toolbox: Outlining device functionality, engagement activities, and the pervasive information architecture of mHealth interventions | Danaher et al. [96] | This review examines two important aspects in the design of mHealth interventions: mobile device functionality and the data architecture, which determines its ability to bring information to mobile phones, PCs and other devices. They conclude that mHealth interventions developers should work on these aspects to engage participants and promote the desired change in behaviour to achieve health |
Paper 86: BP here, there, and everywhere – mobile health applications (apps) and hypertension care | Green [97] | Editorial referred to the promising potential of Apps health surveillance, monitoring and management of blood pressure in hypertensive patients is done |
Paper 87: Impact of Mobile Diabetes Self-Care System on patients’ knowledge, behavior and efficacy | Guo et al. [98] | In this research, a system called “Mobile Diabetes Self-Care System”, for diabetes type 2 was evaluated. The system was created to facilitate patients to improve their capacity for self-care and trying to be flexible in time, place and developed options use. The effectiveness of the system was assessed in 28 individuals who completed questionnaires before and after the intervention. The results indicated that the mobile system had improved the knowledge and behaviour of patient self-management by 17 % and 22 %, respectively |
Paper 88: Apps for life change: Critical review and solution directions | Helf and Hlavacs [99] | This review is focused on the current lack of scientific use in application development, inefficient and selective incorporation of gamification, low levels of customization and potential privacy and trust. Due to the multidisciplinary nature of this set of problems, the text proposes frameworks integrated and user-centered as the best solution. |
Paper 89: Opportunities and barriers in service delivery through mobile phones (mHealth) for Severe Mental Illnesses in Rajasthan, India: A multi-site study | Jain et al. [100] | The document shows information about availability, usage patterns, barriers to mobile technology and felt needs for mental health services for patients with mental illness in the region of Rajasthan (India). 72 patients were interviewed. The preferred mode for delivery of service was through calls, telephone help lines for crisis resolution and follow-up of stable patients. The text concludes that the use of mobile technology has great potential for these patients. |
Paper 90: Legal, Regulatory, and Risk Management Issues in the Use of Technology to Deliver Mental Health Care | Kramer et al. [101] | This review focuses on risk management related to mobile health applications and the use of social networks to provide services “Telemental Health” (TMH), resolving some concerns about the risks and developing a framework to effectively manage the risks associated with caring through TMH. The authors conclude that while it is important to be aware of these issues, the general principles to provide good clinical care, are the use of standards of practice set for the field of mental health, remain the core of the safe and effective practice |
Paper 91: A content analysis of smartphone–based applications for hypertension management | Kumar et al. [102] | The study examines the quality and characteristics of apps focused on the control of hypertension (HTA). The vast majority offered tracking figures of blood pressure, weight or body mass index. It is concluded that consumers have a strong tendency to download and evaluate favourably applications without validation, so the need for greater supervision is evident in the development of medical applications for hypertension, especially when displayed in stores classified as medical devices |
Paper 92: The lifestylisation of healthcare? ‘Consumer genomics’ and mobile health as technologies for healthy lifestyle | Lucivero and Prainsack [103] | This review highlights the challenge posed by “technologies for healthy living,” because it is an ambiguous space between the medical field highly regulated and the consumer market, less regulated. It is defined as the situation leads to new ways to create (and make sense) knowledge related to health. It also recognizes the enormous potential of these technological advances |
Paper 93: NOPA, Usability testing of an application to help patients during th treatment of infectious, and chronic diseases in Brazil | Rodrigues et al. [104] | This document aims to present usability testing (through telephone interviews and focus groups) of a mobile application called NOPA to help patients during treatment of chronic diseases in Brazil. 10 individuals participated. The font size, the ability to send messages and participant status (online/offline) were not easy to identify in the App. The access to the application, to Find/Display the time of medication, and turn off the alarm to confirm that the drug had been taken, were the most valued features |
Paper 94: Feasibility of a lifestyle intervention for overweight/obese endometrial and breast cancer survivors using an interactive mobile application | McCarroll et al. [105] | The study aimed to evaluate an intervention in 50 women survivors of endometrial or breast cancer with overweight or obese based on web (for contact with health professionals) and the “LoseIt” application. Results indicated that intervention by modification of lifestyle offered through the web and with the support of the App is a viable short term option to reduce the weight |
Paper 95: Ergonomic evaluation and design of a mobile application for maternal and infant health for smartphone users among lower-income class Filipinos | Nocum et al. [106] | The paper presents a preliminary investigation to assess, using ISO 9126, a mobile application focused on disseminating relevant information to low-income pregnant women in the Philippines. Using the data collected, the researchers developed a new application (“Uyayi”) that provides all the information requested and takes into account the functionality, reliability and ease of use application designed for this group |
Paper 96: Exploiting the potential and facing the challenges of mobile devices: application examples | Nunes and Simoes-Marques [107] | The document contents a review about apps related to health, from those used during leisure time until those for productivity time, trying to demonstrate their innovative potential, the analysis of the opportunities and remarking the challenges they represent |
Paper 97: BPH laboratories: A proof-of-concept case on integrating smartphone diagnostics into clinical systems | Olla et al. [108] | The document presents through a proof of concept an App (“Immediate -IDA- Diagnostics and Analytics”), how it can be used to acquire, analyze and transmit laboratory data from a pre-surgical hospital module to any system information. The result shown that the use of the App could be convenient to read results of a pregnancy test in a pre-surgical room in real time and transmit it to electronic health records. Finally, the text concludes that it is a useful tool for decision making in real time, improving patient safety and effectiveness attention |
Paper 98: Phone-based Intervention under Nurse Guidance after Stroke: Concept for Lowering Blood Pressure after Stroke in Sub-Saharan Africa | Ovbiagele [109] | This paper proposes a procedure called “Phone-based Intervention under Nurse Guidance after Stroke (PINGS)” for self-management of blood pressure in patients who have suffered a stroke and are poorly controlled in sub-Saharan Africa. PINGS could include the implementation of a program led by nurses to the use and control technology (custom text messages and tele-monitoring at home) aimed at increasing motivation and self-care and increase adherence to antihypertensive therapy |
Paper 99: Enhanced healthcare personnel rostering solution using mobiletechnologies | Paschou et al. [110] | This document refers to the validation in India and Nepal, with a greater sample (122 cases), from an app previously designed and tested in a pilot test The App intended to be an instrument to differentiate epileptic attacks from those not being by medical staff. Different degrees of clinical evidence were evidenced as well as high sensitivity values and specificity; for this reason its use and check ups is recommended in other places |
Paper 100: Validation of a phone app for epilepsy diagnosis in India and Nepal | Patterson et al. [111] | This document refers to the validation in India and Nepal, with a greater sample (122 cases), from an app previously designed and tested in a pilot test The App intended to be an instrument to differentiate epileptic attacks from those not being by medical staff. Different degrees of clinical evidence were evidenced as well as high sensitivity values and specificity; for this reason its use and check ups is recommended in other places |
Paper 101: Review and analysis of existing mobile phone applications for health care associated infection prevention | Schnall and Iribarren [112] | The objective of this revision was to identify and provide a general vision of the apps available to support the prevention of hospital infections and to evaluate its functionality and potential uses in the clinical attention. 17 apps were studied. It was concluded that these could help to reduce the hospital infections, but due to the lack of available applications and functionality of the apps founded, it is required a greater development in its field |
Paper 102: Mobile-health: A review of current state in 2015 | Silva et al. [113] | This article presents an exhaustive revision of the state of the technique in the field of mHealth. The most important works published were studied, as well as the services of mHealth and the apps suggested by the industry. It was also approached the legislation and the necessity to define a paradigm of mHealth in the European Union and the United States. Finally, open and challenging issues were proposed about new solutions of mHealth for future works |
Paper 103: The CAIDE Dementia Risk Score App: The development of an evidence-based mobile application to predict the risk of dementia | Sindi et al. [114] | The work presents the app “CAIDE Risk Score App” based in the toolkit (Cardiovascular Risk Factors, Aging, and Incidence of Dementia) to calculate the risk to suffer dementia. No results of validation were showed, taking into account that, in the moment of the development of the article, there were more than 700 downloads |
Paper 104: Online Filipino-Americans’ perspectives on informatics-enabled health management | Thompson and Valdez [115] | The purpose of this study was to understand the perception of the perspectives of the Filipino-Americans about three types of information technology used for health management. An online poll was administered to 87 participants through Facebook. The sample was more likely to use social networks (SNS), except the mobile apps (mHealth) and hardly ever the personal health records were used (PHR). The participants informed about the advantages and disadvantages of using this kind of technology for the management of health (accessibility, credibility, privacy, ease of use and utility, among them) |
Paper 105: Sexual and reproductive health and rights and mHealth in policy and practice in South Africa | Waldman and Stevens [116] | This article explores from a qualitative methodology (interviews to key informants and three case studies), the intersections between mHealth, health and the rights. It is showed that the degree in which mHealth tackles all the range of reproductive justice and the health and sexual and reproductive rights is limited, especially dealing with the government initiatives. The document maintains that the projects mHealth tend to avoid the controversial aspects of sexual health, whereas it is developed in favourable issues such as pregnancy and maternity |
Paper 106: Acceptability of mobile health interventions to reduce inactivity-related health risk in central Pennsylvania adults | Yang et al. [117] | The aim of this study was to typify the need and the acceptability of mobile health interventions of behaviour among the rural adults with sedentary lives in Pennsylvania and to evaluate the interest and the value of the interventions based in mobile apps. 258 participants with Smartphones filled a brief survey thorugh Internet in October–November 2012. It was evidenced that most of the surveyed would use a free app or a low cost app to modify risk behaviours |