ArticleJMIR mHealth and uHealth2017
The Potential of Mobile Apps for Improving Asthma Self-Management: A Review of Publicly Available and Well-Adopted Asthma Apps.
Article in JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 76 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
76 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 173 citations in OpenAlex.
- Smartphone Apps for Pulmonary Hypertension: Systematic Search and Content Evaluation.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2024Pooled it
- Functionality and Quality of Asthma mHealth Apps and Their Consistency With International Guidelines: Structured Search and Evaluation.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2024Pooled it
- Smartphone Apps Targeting Alcohol and Illicit Substance Use: Systematic Search in in Commercial App Stores and Critical Content Analysis.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2019Pooled it
- Evaluation of Mobile Apps Targeted to Parents of Infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: Systematic App Review.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2019Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Smartphone Applications for Encouraging Asthma Self-Management in Adolescents: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2018Pooled it
- Digital Self-Management Platform for Adult Asthma: Randomized Attention-Placebo Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Trial
- Trial
- The Effectiveness and Safety of Utilizing Mobile Phone-Based Programs for Rehabilitation After Lumbar Spinal Surgery: Multicenter, Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2019Trial
- Understanding Australian healthcare provider attitudes towards smart inhalers for paediatric asthma management: a qualitative study.BMJ open · 2026Article
- ASTHMAXcelED: A Patient-Facing Asthma Mobile Application with High User Acceptance and Improved Clinical Outcomes.ACI open · 2026Article
- Quality and Privacy Policy Compliance of Mental Health Care Apps in China: Cross-Sectional Evaluation Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Supporting Medication Adherence in Pediatric Patients Undergoing Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Using the BMT4me mHealth App: Mixed Methods Usability Study.JMIR cancer · 2025Article
- Perspectives of Hispanic and Latinx Community Members on AI-Enabled mHealth Tools: Qualitative Focus Group Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Complex interplays: Asthma management and maternal‑fetal outcomes in pregnancy (Review).Experimental and therapeutic medicine · 2024Review
- Expert Usability Evaluation of a Mobile Application for Systematic Caries Management in Children and Adolescents: A Cross-sectional Study.International journal of clinical pediatric dentistry · 2024Article
- Role of digital education through smartphones in improving knowledge among asthma patients: A preliminary study.Narra J · 2024Article
- Development of the Huntington Support App (HD-eHelp study): a human-centered and co-design approach.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Article
- A Transgender Health Information Resource: Participatory Design Study.JMIR human factors · 2023Article
- Mobile Health for Asthma.CHEST pulmonary · 2023Review
16 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundEffective disease self-management lowers asthma's burden of disease for both individual patients and health care systems. In principle, mobile health (mHealth) apps could enable effective asthma self-management interventions that improve a patient's quality of life while simultaneously reducing the overall treatment costs for health care systems. However, prior reviews in this field have found that mHealth apps for asthma lack clinical evaluation and are often not based on medical guidelines. Yet, beyond the missing evidence for clinical efficacy, little is known about the potential apps might have for improving asthma self-management.
objectiveThe aim of this study was to assess the potential of publicly available and well-adopted mHealth apps for improving asthma self-management.
methodsThe Apple App store and Google Play store were systematically searched for asthma apps. In total, 523 apps were identified, of which 38 apps matched the selection criteria to be included in the review. Four requirements of app potential were investigated: app functions, potential to change behavior (by means of a behavior change technique taxonomy), potential to promote app use (by means of a gamification components taxonomy), and app quality (by means of the Mobile Application Rating Scale [MARS]).
resultsThe most commonly implemented functions in the 38 reviewed asthma apps were tracking (30/38, 79%) and information (26/38, 68%) functions, followed by assessment (20/38, 53%) and notification (18/38, 47%) functions. On average, the reviewed apps applied 7.12 of 26 available behavior change techniques (standard deviation [SD]=4.46) and 4.89 of 31 available gamification components (SD=4.21). Average app quality was acceptable (mean=3.17/5, SD=0.58), whereas subjective app quality lied between poor and acceptable (mean=2.65/5, SD=0.87). Additionally, the sum scores of all review frameworks were significantly correlated (lowest correlation: r
conclusionsSeveral apps were identified that performed consistently well across all applied review frameworks, thus indicating the potential mHealth apps offer for improving asthma self-management. However, many apps suffer from low quality. Therefore, app reviews should be considered as a decision support tool before deciding which app to integrate into a patient's asthma self-management. Furthermore, several research-practice gaps were identified that app developers should consider addressing in future asthma apps.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.