ArticleJournal of general internal medicine2019
Commercialization of User Data by Developers of Medicines-Related Apps: a Content Analysis.
Article in Journal of general internal medicine, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Digital contact tracing technologies in epidemics: a rapid review.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- Ethical, legal, and social issues related to ingestible, implantable electronic devices and mRNA delivery devices.Device · 2025Article
- Stress Management Apps: Systematic Search and Multidimensional Assessment of Quality and Characteristics.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2023Review
- Ethical and regulatory implications of the COVID-19 pandemic for the medical devices industry and its representatives.BMC medical ethics · 2022Review
- Quality of Physical Activity Apps: Systematic Search in App Stores and Content Analysis.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2021Article
- Privacy versus Convenience: A Historical Perspective, Analysis of Risks, and an Informatics Call to Action.Applied clinical informatics · 2021Article
- Young People's Use of Digital Health Technologies in the Global North: Narrative Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2021Review
- Comparison of Discounted and Undiscounted Cash Prices for Cardiovascular Medications by Type of US Community Pharmacy.Journal of general internal medicine · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundDevelopers of medicines-related apps collect a variety of technical, health-related, and identifying user information to improve and tailor services. User data may also be used for promotional purposes. Apps, for example, may be used to skirt regulation of direct-to-consumer advertising of medicines. Researchers have documented routine and extensive sharing of user data with third parties for commercial purposes, but little is known about the ways that app developers or "first" parties employ user data.
objectiveWe aimed to investigate the nature of user data collection and commercialization by developers of medicines-related apps. APPROACH: We conducted a content analysis of apps' store descriptions, linked websites, policies, and sponsorship prospectuses for prominent medicines-related apps found in the USA, Canada, Australia, and UK Google Play stores in late 2017. Apps were included if they pertained to the prescribing, administration, or use of medicines, and were interactive. Two independent coders extracted data from documents using a structured, open-ended instrument. We performed open, inductive coding to identify the range of promotional strategies involving user data for commercial purposes and wrote descriptive memos to refine and detail these codes. KEY
resultsTen of 24 apps primarily provided medication adherence services; 14 primarily provided medicines information. The majority (71%, 17/24) outlined at least one promotional strategy involving users' data for commercial purposes which included personalized marketing of the developer's related products and services, highly tailored advertising, third-party sponsorship of targeted content or messaging, and sale of aggregated customer insights to stakeholders.
conclusionsApp developers may employ users' data in a feedback loop to deliver highly targeted promotional messages from developers, and commercial sponsors, including the pharmaceutical industry. These practices call into question developers' claims about the trustworthiness and independence of purportedly evidenced-based medicines information and may create a risk for mis- or overtreatment.
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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.