ArticlePloS one2018
Effect of self-monitoring on long-term patient engagement with mobile health applications.
Article in PloS one, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 73 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
73 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Conversational Agents for Body Weight Management: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Pooled it
- The effectiveness of digital health technologies for patients with diabetes mellitus: A systematic review.Frontiers in clinical diabetes and healthcare · 2022Pooled it
- Rates of Attrition and Dropout in App-Based Interventions for Chronic Disease: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2020Pooled it
- Self-Monitoring of Weight Loss Over Time: Secondary Data Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2026Trial
- Novel Web-Based Technology to Promote Goal-Setting in Complex Chronic Illness: Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR human factors · 2026Trial
- Patient Engagement in a Mobile App-Based Rehabilitation Program for Total Hip or Knee Arthroplasty: Secondary Data Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2024Trial
- Trial
- Efficacy of an app-based multimodal lifestyle intervention on body weight in persons with obesity: results from a randomized controlled trial.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2024Trial
- Assessing the Implementation and Effectiveness of the Electronic Patient-Reported Outcome Tool for Older Adults With Complex Care Needs: Mixed Methods Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2021Trial
- A Novel User Utility Score for Diabetes Management Using Tailored Mobile Coaching: Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2021Trial
- DIABEO System Combining a Mobile App Software With and Without Telemonitoring Versus Standard Care: A Randomized Controlled Trial in Diabetes Patients Poorly Controlled with a Basal-Bolus Insulin Regimen.Diabetes technology & therapeutics · 2020Trial
- Evaluation of the Tobbstop Mobile App for Smoking Cessation: Cluster Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2020Trial
- The Use of Wireless, Smartphone App-Assisted Home Blood Pressure Monitoring Among Hypertensive Patients in Singapore: Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2019Trial
- Article
- The FOOTLOOSE App: Evaluation of a Gamified App-Based Exercise Intervention for Children and Adolescents with Congenital Heart Disease-A Mixed-Methods Feasibility Study.Journal of cardiovascular development and disease · 2026Article
- Predicting measurement continuity in home blood pressure monitoring using machine learning.Hypertension research : official journal of the Japanese Society of Hypertension · 2026Article
- A scoping review of music-based digital therapeutics for stress, anxiety, and depression.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Review
- Effects of information framing cues and age on the comprehension of personal health records for self-care behaviors: an eye-tracking study.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA · 2025Article
- Can Mobile Health Applications, Social Media, and Telemedicine Assist with Obesity Treatment?Current obesity reports · 2025Review
- Perceived Telehealth Usability for Personalized Healthcare Among the Adult Population in Saudi Arabia: A Cross-Sectional Study in the Post-COVID-19 Era.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
13 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
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Despite the growing adoption of the mobile health (mHealth) applications (apps), few studies address concerns with low retention rates. This study aimed to investigate how the usage patterns of mHealth app functions affect user retention. We collected individual usage logs for 1,439 users of single tethered personal health record app, which spanned an 18-months period from August 2011 to January 2013. The user logs contained timestamps whenever an individual uses each function, which enables us to identify the usage patterns based on the intensity of using a particular function in the app. We then estimated how these patterns were related to 1) the app usage over time (using the random effect model) and 2) the probability of stopping the use of the application (using the Cox proportional hazard model). The analyses suggested that the users utilize the app most at the time of the adoption and gradually reduce their usage over time. The average duration of use after starting the app was 25.62 weeks (SD: 18.41). The degree of the usage reduction, however, decreases as the self-monitoring function is more frequently used (coefficient = 0.002, P = 0.013); none of the other functions has this effect. Moreover, engaging with the self-monitoring function frequently (coefficient = -0.18, P = 0.003) and regularly (coefficient = 0.10, P = 0.001) significantly also reduces the probability of abandoning the application. Specifically, the estimated survival rate indicates that, after 40 weeks since the adoption, the probability of the regular users of self-monitoring to stay in use was about 80% while that of non-user was about 60%. This study provides the empirical evidence that sustained use of mHealth app is closely linked to the regular usage on self-monitoring function. The implications can be extended to the education of users and physicians to produce better outcomes as well as application development for effective user interfaces.
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What OpenQuestion holds
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.