Salumedia Tecnologias, Seville, Spain; University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.
Internal Medicine Research Unit, Department of Internal Medicine, Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Int J Med Inform. 2018 Feb;110:1-9. doi: 10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2017.10.022. Epub 2017 Nov 7.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. The use of mobile software applications for health and wellbeing promotion has grown exponentially in recent years. We systematically reviewed the breast cancer apps available in today's leading smartphone application stores and characterized them based on their features, evidence base and target audiences.
A cross-sectional study was performed to characterize breast cancer apps from the two major smartphone app stores (iOS and Android). Apps that matched the keywords "breast cancer" were identified and data was extracted using a structured form. Reviewers independently evaluated the eligibility and independently classified the apps.
A total of 1473 apps were a match. After removing duplicates and applying the selection criteria only 599 apps remained. Inter-rater reliability was determined using Fleiss-Cohen's Kappa. The majority of apps were free 471 (78.63%). The most common type of application was Disease and Treatment information apps (29.22%), Disease Management (19.03%) and Awareness Raising apps (15.03%). Close to 1 out of 10 apps dealt with alternative or homeopathic medicine. The majority of the apps were intended for patients (75.79%). Only one quarter of all apps (24.54%) had a disclaimer about usage and less than one fifth (19.70%) mentioned references or source material. Gamification specialists determined that 19.36% contained gamification elements.
This study analyzed a large number of breast cancer-focused apps available to consumers. There has been a steady increase of breast cancer apps over the years. The breast cancer app ecosystem largely consists of start-ups and entrepreneurs. Evidence base seems to be lacking in these apps and it would seem essential that expert medical personnel be involved in the creation of medical apps.
乳腺癌是女性最常见的癌症。近年来，用于促进健康和福祉的移动软件应用程序呈指数级增长。我们系统地审查了当今领先的智能手机应用商店中提供的乳腺癌应用程序，并根据其功能、证据基础和目标受众对它们进行了描述。
对来自两个主要智能手机应用商店（iOS 和 Android）的乳腺癌应用程序进行了横断面研究。确定了与“乳腺癌”关键词匹配的应用程序，并使用结构化表格提取数据。审查员独立评估资格，并独立对应用程序进行分类。
共有 1473 个应用程序匹配。去除重复项并应用选择标准后，只剩下 599 个应用程序。使用 Fleiss-Cohen 的 Kappa 确定了组内一致性。大多数应用程序是免费的（78.63%）471 个。最常见的应用类型是疾病和治疗信息应用程序（29.22%）、疾病管理应用程序（19.03%）和意识提升应用程序（15.03%）。近十分之一的应用程序涉及替代或顺势疗法药物。大多数应用程序针对的是患者（75.79%）。只有四分之一的应用程序（24.54%）对使用情况有免责声明，不到五分之一（19.70%）提到了参考资料或来源材料。游戏化专家确定有 19.36%的应用程序包含游戏化元素。
本研究分析了消费者可获得的大量专注于乳腺癌的应用程序。近年来，乳腺癌应用程序的数量稳步增加。乳腺癌应用生态系统主要由初创企业和企业家组成。这些应用程序似乎缺乏证据基础，似乎需要医学专家参与医疗应用程序的创建。
