A Systematic Review of Quality Assessment Methods for Smartphone Health Apps

BinDhim, Nasser F; Hawkey, Alexandra; Trevena, Lyndal

doi:10.1089/tmj.2014.0088

Cited by 145 publications

(147 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Quality and Risk of Bias Checklist for Studies That Review Smartphone Applications was used to ensure that methods for apps' review are adequately described [13].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite the wide distribution and popularity of health apps, many of them have been rapidly developed [13], and there is lack of evidence of their efficacy. For example, a meta-analysis published by Direito, Carraça [14] found only 7 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating app intervention for PA and/or sedentary behavior.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent reviews by BinDhim, Hawkey [13] and Bardus, Smith [19] categorized and evaluated the methods used for quality assessment of apps. Both studies found a considerable variability in methods and measures used to review the quality of health apps.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Quality of Publicly Available Physical Activity Apps: Review and Content Analysis (Preprint)

Bondaronek¹,

Alkhaldi²,

Slee³

et al. 2017

Preprint

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Background: Within the new digital health landscape, the rise of health apps creates novel prospects for health promotion. The market is saturated with apps that aim to increase physical activity (PA). Despite the wide distribution and popularity of PA apps, there are limited data on their effectiveness, user experience, and safety of personal data. Objective: The purpose of this review and content analysis was to evaluate the quality of the most popular PA apps on the market using healthcare quality indicators. Methods: The top-ranked 400 free and paid apps from iTunes and Google Play stores were screened. Apps were included if the primary behavior targeted was PA; targeted users were adults; the apps had stand-alone functionality. The apps were downloaded on mobile phones and assessed by two reviewers against the following quality assessment criteria: 1) users' data privacy and security, 2) presence of

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“…Quality and Risk of Bias Checklist for Studies That Review Smartphone Applications was used to ensure that methods for apps' review are adequately described [13].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Quality of Publicly Available Physical Activity Apps: Review and Content Analysis (Preprint)

Bondaronek¹,

Alkhaldi²,

Slee³

et al. 2017

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Our study has several strengths, including a comprehensive search to identify all relevant BP tracking apps, a rigorous app assessment process based on best practices from the app evaluation literature, [22] and duplicate review of all apps by independent investigators. [22] Despite the strengths, there are several limitations.…”

Section: Strengths and Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[22,23] It is important to assess app information consistency with best practice, which will help clinicians with app recommendations and ensure accurate, safe app use by patients. [22,24,25] Kumar et al recently described the functional characteristics and consumer interaction metrics for the top 107 hypertension-related apps for Apple iPhone and Google Android devices. [23] They reported that a majority of these are designed to track blood pressure, weight or, body mass index.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quality of Blood Pressure Tracking Apps for the iPhone: Content Analysis and Evaluation of Adherence With Home Blood Pressure Measurement Best Practices (Preprint)

Leong¹,

Makowsky²

2018

Preprint

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Background: Blood pressure [BP] tracking apps may aid in hypertension self-management but app quality may be problematic. Objective: To develop a content-dependent rating system and review characteristics, tracking features, content-independent quality, and educational comprehensiveness of English language BP tracking apps for the iPhone. Methods: We created a 28-item checklist reflecting overall app quality, and a simplified 2-item checklist to assess consistency with home BP monitoring best practices. We searched the Canadian App Store on June 28 th , 2016 using the keywords "hypertension" and "blood pressure." Two reviewers independently assessed apps according to the standardized template. Apps with educational information were evaluated for comprehensiveness on a 7-point scale, and for consistency with evidence-based guidelines. Higher scores represent better quality and comprehensiveness. We determined if paid apps, educational apps, or those rated ≥4 stars were of higher quality. Results: Of 948 apps screened, 62 met the inclusion criteria. The mean overall quality was 12.2±4.6 and 6 apps (10 %) met BP monitoring best practice criteria. Twelve apps contained educational content (mean comprehensiveness: 2.3±1.6) most commonly, background information on hypertension. Apps with educational content [15.1±3.8 vs. 11.8±4.8 P=0.03] or a ≥4 star rating [17.4±3.6 vs. 12.0±4.6 p= 0.01] had higher overall quality. Conclusions: The included apps had variable quality. When deciding to recommend a specific BP tracking app, we suggest clinicians evaluate if the app allows input of duplicate BP readings for at least 7 days and presents the mean BP value for user specified dates. Greater attention to home BP measurement best practices is required during app development.

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Mortality risk factors in kidney‐transplanted patients with COVID‐19: A systematic review and regression analysis

Navari

Bagheri

Rezayat

et al. 2021

Health Science Reports

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Background and aims The kidney transplant patients who receive immunosuppressive and specific medication may lead to different mortality risk factors between kidney transplant patients with COVID‐19 and the general population. We aimed to provide a model predictor and a risk analysis of mortality in kidney transplant COVID‐19 positive patients. Methods We performed our search using PubMed, MEDLINE, Web of Science, Scopus, and Google Scholar to identify English articles published from the beginning of December 2019 through August 2020. Excluded manuscripts had no full text, lacked information, were not the original article, or consisted of less than three cases. We gathered information about demographic information, comorbidities, COVID‐19 symptoms, lung radiographic findings, history of medication therapy, and changes in the kidney maintenance therapy after confirming their COVID‐19 on the data extraction forms. Results We found a total of 31 eligible articles. We set a 10% mortality rate as our cutoff point. The most common sign and symptoms were cough (53.22 [29.42]), dyspnea (50.80 [24.55]). In the bivariate analysis, fatigue (P = .04, OR of 0.92; 95% CI: 0.85‐1.00), hypertension (P = .07, OR of 1.03; 95% CI: 1.00‐1.07), and dyspnea (P = .08, OR of 1.04; 95% CI: 1.00‐1.09) showed a statistically significant relationship with increases in mortality. In multivariate regression analysis, an independent association was only found between hypertension and mortality (P = .035; AOR of 1.064; CL: 1.004‐1.127). Conclusion Clinicians should pay special attention to modifiable risk factors for COVID‐19 infection mortality, such as hypertension among kidney transplant patients, because it may be possible to decrease mortality by controlling these factors.

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A Systematic Review of Quality Assessment Methods for Smartphone Health Apps

Abstract: This article provides a summary of currently used methods for assessing the quality of smartphone health-related apps and proposes a set of criteria to enable future studies to consistently review health-related app quality in a standardized manner.

Cited by 145 publications

References 17 publications

Quality of Publicly Available Physical Activity Apps: Review and Content Analysis (Preprint)

Quality of Publicly Available Physical Activity Apps: Review and Content Analysis (Preprint)

Quality of Blood Pressure Tracking Apps for the iPhone: Content Analysis and Evaluation of Adherence With Home Blood Pressure Measurement Best Practices (Preprint)

Mortality risk factors in kidney‐transplanted patients with COVID‐19: A systematic review and regression analysis

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