Jamaladin Hussein, van de Belt Tom H, Luijpers Lianda Ch, de Graaff Falco R, Bredie Sebastian Jh, Roeleveld Nel, van Gelder Marleen Mhj
Department for Health Evidence, Radboud Institute for Health Sciences, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands.
Radboud REshape Innovation Center, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands.
JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2018 Nov 14;6(11):e187. doi: 10.2196/mhealth.9888.
Using a mobile app for self-management could make it easier for patients to get insight into their blood pressure patterns. However, little is known about the availability, quality, and features of mobile apps targeting blood pressure.
The goal of the research was to determine the availability, functionality, and quality of mobile apps that could be used for blood pressure monitoring purposes.
A systematic app search was performed based on the standards for systematic reviews. We searched the Dutch official app stores for Android and iOS platforms using predefined keywords and included all English and Dutch mobile apps targeting blood pressure. Two independent assessors determined eligibility and quality of the apps using the 5-point Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS). Quality scores of the apps with and without 17 a priori selected characteristics were compared using independent sample t tests.
A total of 184 apps (104 Android, 80 iOS) met the inclusion criteria. The mean overall MARS score was 2.63 (95% CI 2.55-2.71) for Android and 2.64 (95% CI 2.56-2.71) for iOS. The apps Bloeddruk (4.1) and AMICOMED BP (3.6) had the highest quality scores on the Android and iOS platforms, respectively. Of the app characteristics recorded, only pricing, in-app advertisements, and local data storage were not associated with the quality scores. In only 3.8% (7/184) of the apps, involvement of medical experts in its development was mentioned, whereas none of the apps was formally evaluated with results published in a peer-reviewed journal.
This study provides an overview of the best apps currently available in the app stores and important key features for self-management that can be used by health care providers and patients with hypertension to identify a suitable app targeting blood pressure monitoring. However, the majority of the apps targeting blood pressure monitoring were of poor quality. Therefore, it is important to involve medical experts in the developmental stage of health-related mobile apps to improve the quality of these apps.
使用移动应用程序进行自我管理可以使患者更容易了解自己的血压模式。然而，对于针对血压的移动应用程序的可用性、质量和功能，我们知之甚少。
本研究的目的是确定可用于血压监测的移动应用程序的可用性、功能和质量。
根据系统评价标准进行系统的应用程序搜索。我们使用预定义的关键词在荷兰官方应用商店中搜索安卓和iOS平台，并纳入所有针对血压的英文和荷兰语移动应用程序。两名独立评估人员使用5分移动应用程序评分量表（MARS）确定应用程序的合格性和质量。使用独立样本t检验比较具有和不具有17个预先选定特征的应用程序的质量得分。
共有184个应用程序（104个安卓应用程序，80个iOS应用程序）符合纳入标准。安卓应用程序的平均总体MARS评分为2.63（95%CI 2.55-2.71），iOS应用程序的平均总体MARS评分为2.64（95%CI 2.56-2.71）。应用程序Bloeddruk（4.1）和AMICOMED BP（3.6）在安卓和iOS平台上分别获得了最高质量得分。在所记录的应用程序特征中，只有定价、应用内广告和本地数据存储与质量得分无关。在仅3.8%（7/184）的应用程序中提到了医学专家参与其开发，而没有一个应用程序经过同行评审期刊发表的结果进行正式评估。
本研究概述了应用商店中目前可用的最佳应用程序以及自我管理的重要关键特征，医疗保健提供者和高血压患者可以使用这些特征来识别适合血压监测的应用程序。然而，大多数针对血压监测的应用程序质量较差。因此，让医学专家参与与健康相关的移动应用程序的开发阶段以提高这些应用程序的质量非常重要。
