Centre for Population Health Sciences, Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore.
Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.
JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2019 Jan 16;7(1):e11848. doi: 10.2196/11848.
The availability of smartphone health apps empowers people to manage their own health. Currently, there are over 300,000 health apps available in the market targeting a variety of user needs from weight loss to management of chronic conditions, with diabetes being the most commonly targeted condition. To date, health apps largely fall outside government regulation, and there are no official guidelines to help clinicians and patients in app selection. Patients commonly resort to the internet for suggestions on which diabetes app to use.
The objective of this study was to investigate apps identified through a Google search and characterize these apps in terms of features that support diabetes management.
We performed a Google search for the "best diabetes apps 2017" and explored the first 4 search results. We identified and compiled a list of the apps recommended in the returned search results, which were Web articles. Information about each app was extracted from the papers and corresponding app store descriptions. We examined the apps for the following diabetes management features: medication management, blood glucose self-management, physical activity, diet and nutrition, and weight management.
Overall, 26 apps were recommended in 4 papers. One app was listed in all 4 papers, and 3 apps appeared on 3 of the 4 lists. Apart from one paper, there were no explicit criteria to justify or explain the selection of apps. We found a wide variation in the type and the number of diabetes management features in the recommended apps. Five apps required payment to be used. Two-thirds of the apps had blood glucose management features, and less than half had medication management features. The most prevalent app features were nutrition or diet-related (19/24, 79%) and physical activity tracking (14/24, 58%).
The ambiguity of app selection and the wide variability in key features of the apps recommended for diabetes management may pose difficulties for patients when selecting the most appropriate app. It is critical to involve patients, clinicians, relevant professional bodies, and policy makers to define the key features an app should have for it to be classified as a "diabetes management" app. The lessons learned here may be extrapolated for the development and recommendation of apps for the management of other chronic conditions.
智能手机健康应用程序的出现使人们能够管理自己的健康。目前，市场上有超过 30 万个针对各种用户需求的健康应用程序，从减肥到慢性病管理，其中糖尿病是最常见的目标疾病。迄今为止，健康应用程序在很大程度上不受政府监管，也没有官方指南来帮助临床医生和患者选择应用程序。患者通常会上网寻求建议，选择使用哪种糖尿病应用程序。
本研究旨在调查通过谷歌搜索发现的应用程序，并根据支持糖尿病管理的功能对这些应用程序进行特征描述。
我们对“2017 年最佳糖尿病应用程序”进行了谷歌搜索，并探索了前 4 个搜索结果。我们确定并编制了在返回的搜索结果中推荐的应用程序列表，这些应用程序是网络文章。从论文和相应的应用商店描述中提取了每个应用程序的信息。我们检查了这些应用程序的以下糖尿病管理功能：药物管理、血糖自我管理、体育活动、饮食和营养以及体重管理。
总体而言，有 4 篇论文共推荐了 26 个应用程序。一个应用程序在所有 4 篇论文中都有列出，3 个应用程序出现在 3 篇论文中。除了一篇论文，没有明确的标准来证明或解释应用程序的选择。我们发现推荐的应用程序在糖尿病管理功能的类型和数量上存在很大差异。有 5 个应用程序需要付费才能使用。三分之二的应用程序具有血糖管理功能，不到一半的应用程序具有药物管理功能。最常见的应用程序功能是与营养或饮食相关的功能（19/24，79%）和体育活动跟踪（14/24，58%）。
应用程序选择的模糊性以及推荐的用于糖尿病管理的应用程序在关键功能方面的广泛差异，可能会给患者在选择最合适的应用程序时带来困难。至关重要的是，要让患者、临床医生、相关专业机构和政策制定者参与进来，定义应用程序应具备的关键功能，以便将其归类为“糖尿病管理”应用程序。这里总结的经验教训可以推广到其他慢性疾病管理应用程序的开发和推荐。
