Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Gregorio Marañón, Hospital General Universitario Gregorio Marañón, Madrid, Spain.
J Med Internet Res. 2022 Mar 4;24(3):e31016. doi: 10.2196/31016.
Immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs) are systemic conditions associated with a high social and health impact. New treatments have changed the prognosis of IMIDs and have increased patient autonomy in disease management. Mobile apps have enormous potential to improve health outcomes in patients with IMIDs. Although a large number of IMID apps are available, the app market is not regulated, and functionality and reliability remain uncertain.
Our aims are to review available apps for patients with IMIDs or caregivers and to describe the main characteristics and functionalities of these apps.
We performed an observational, cross-sectional, descriptive study of all apps for patients with IMIDs. Between April 5 and 14, 2021, we conducted a search of the App Store (iOS) and Play Store (Android) platforms. We used the names of the different IMIDs as search terms. The inclusion criteria were as follows: content related to IMIDs, English or Spanish language, and user population consisting of patients and health care consumers, including family and caregivers. The variables analyzed were as follows: app name, type of IMID, platform (Android or iOS), country of origin, language, category of the app, cost, date of the last update, size, downloads, author affiliation, and functionalities.
We identified 713 apps in the initial search, and 243 apps met the criteria and were analyzed. Of these, 37% (n=90) were on Android, 27.2% (n=66) on iOS, and 35.8% (n=87) on both platforms. The most frequent categories were health and well-being/fitness apps (n=188, 48.5%) and medicine (n=82, 37.9%). A total of 211 (82.3%) apps were free. The mean time between the date of the analysis and the date of the most recent update was 18.5 (SD 19.3) months. Health care professionals were involved in the development of 100 (41.1%) apps. We found differences between Android and iOS in the mean time since the last update (16.2, SD 14.7 months vs 30.3, SD 25.7 months) and free apps (85.6% vs 75.8%; respectively). The functionalities were as follows: general information about lifestyles, nutrition, or exercises (n=135, 55.6%); specific information about the disease or treatment (n=102, 42%); recording of symptoms or adverse events (n=51, 21%); agenda/calendar (n=44, 18.1%); reminder medication (n=41, 16.9%); and recording of patient-reported outcomes (n=41, 16.9%). A total of 147 (60.5%) apps had more than one functionality.
IMID-related apps are heterogeneous in terms of functionality and reliability. Apps may be a useful complement to IMID care, especially inpatient education (their most frequent functionality). However, more than half of the IMID apps had not been developed by health care professionals or updated in the last year.
免疫介导的炎症性疾病（IMIDs）是与高社会和健康影响相关的全身性疾病。新的治疗方法改变了 IMIDs 的预后，并提高了患者在疾病管理中的自主权。移动应用程序在改善 IMIDs 患者的健康结果方面具有巨大的潜力。尽管有大量的 IMID 应用程序，但应用程序市场不受监管，其功能和可靠性仍然不确定。
我们旨在审查针对 IMIDs 患者或护理人员的可用应用程序，并描述这些应用程序的主要特征和功能。
我们对所有针对 IMIDs 患者的应用程序进行了观察性、横断面、描述性研究。在 2021 年 4 月 5 日至 14 日期间，我们在 App Store（iOS）和 Play Store（Android）平台上进行了搜索。我们使用不同的 IMIDs 名称作为搜索词。纳入标准如下：与 IMIDs 相关的内容、英语或西班牙语语言以及由患者和医疗保健消费者（包括家庭和护理人员）组成的用户人群。分析的变量如下：应用程序名称、IMID 类型、平台（Android 或 iOS）、原籍国、语言、应用程序类别、成本、上次更新日期、大小、下载量、作者隶属关系和功能。
我们在最初的搜索中发现了 713 个应用程序，其中有 243 个符合标准并进行了分析。其中，37%（n=90）在 Android 上，27.2%（n=66）在 iOS 上，35.8%（n=87）在两个平台上。最常见的类别是健康与福祉/健身应用程序（n=188，48.5%）和医学（n=82，37.9%）。共有 211 个（82.3%）应用程序是免费的。分析日期与最近更新日期之间的平均时间为 18.5（SD 19.3）个月。有 100（41.1%）个应用程序是由医疗保健专业人员开发的。我们发现 Android 和 iOS 之间在最后更新时间（16.2，SD 14.7 个月与 30.3，SD 25.7 个月）和免费应用程序（85.6%与 75.8%；分别）方面存在差异。功能如下：关于生活方式、营养或锻炼的一般信息（n=135，55.6%）；关于疾病或治疗的具体信息（n=102，42%）；症状或不良事件的记录（n=51，21%）；日程安排/日历（n=44，18.1%）；药物提醒（n=41，16.9%）；以及记录患者报告的结果（n=41，16.9%）。共有 147 个（60.5%）应用程序具有多种功能。
IMID 相关应用程序在功能和可靠性方面存在差异。应用程序可能是 IMID 护理的有用补充，尤其是住院教育（其最常见的功能）。然而，超过一半的 IMID 应用程序不是由医疗保健专业人员开发的，也没有在过去一年中更新。
