ArticleJMIR mHealth and uHealth2021
Comparing Smartphone Apps for Traditional Chinese Medicine and Modern Medicine in China: Systematic Search and Content Analysis.
Article in JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- Chinese Mobile Health Apps for Preventing and Managing Pelvic Floor Dysfunction: Quality Assessment and Content Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- Complementary Therapies for Diabetic Foot Ulcer Healing Among Patients in Asia: Scoping Review.Asian/Pacific Island nursing journal · 2026Review
- Privacy Policy Compliance of Mobile Sports and Health Apps in China: Scale Development, Data Analysis, and Prospects for Regulatory Reform.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2026Article
- The Effect of a Traditional Chinese Medicine Course on Western Medicine Students' Attitudes Toward Traditional Chinese Medicine: Self-Controlled Pre-Post Questionnaire Study.JMIR medical education · 2026Article
- Quality and Privacy Policy Compliance of Mental Health Care Apps in China: Cross-Sectional Evaluation Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Consumer preference study for the interface design of traditional Chinese medicine applications using conjoint analysis method.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Quality assessment of mHealth apps: a scoping review.Frontiers in health services · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
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Abstract
backgroundTraditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an integral part of mainstream medicine in China, with theories and practices that are completely different from modern medicine. TCM should not be ignored or confused with modern medicine in the analysis of the Chinese health care system, including the analysis of mobile health (mHealth) apps. To date, differences between TCM apps and modern medicine apps have not be systematically investigated.
objectiveThe aim of this study was to systematically compare the quality of apps for TCM and modern medicine in China.
methodsIn December 2020, we searched iOS (iTunes) and Android (Tencent, Oppo, and Huawei app stores) platforms for all mHealth apps and then categorized them as TCM or modern medicine apps if they were included in the final analysis. The included apps were downloaded on smartphones and assessed by 2 reviewers on the following 4 aspects: (1) data in the app stores, including user ratings, download counts, cost, target users, and year of last update; (2) functionality; (3) quality of the app content as determined by the Mobile App Rating Scale (MARS); and (4) analysis of the app privacy and security.
resultsIn total, 658 apps were analyzed, including 261 TCM medicine apps and 397 modern medicine apps. The average download count of modern medicine apps (approximately 5 million) was more than 10 times that of TCM apps (approximately 400,000). Regarding functionalities, 64.7% (257/397) of modern medicine apps provided telemedicine (74/261, 28.4% in TCM apps), 62.7% (249/397) provided registration (70/261, 26.8% in TCM apps), and 45.6% (181/397) provided communication (38/261, 14.6% in TCM apps). A larger proportion of TCM apps provided prescription and medication management (144/261, 55.2% in TCM apps versus 168/397, 42.3% in modern medicine apps). The majority of modern medicine apps (329/397, 82.9%) combined ≥3 functionalities compared with one-third of TCM apps (93/261, 34.6%). We then selected 81 top apps for quality and safety assessment (41 TCM apps and 40 modern medicine apps). Of these, the mean overall MARS score of TCM apps (2.7, SD 0.5) was significantly lower than modern medicine apps (3.6, SD 0.4). Almost all modern medicine apps (38/40, 95%) addressed privacy and security by providing a privacy policy and describing how to protect personal data, but less than half of the TCM apps (18/41, 44%) described this information (P<.001).
conclusionsThe different functionalities reflect the distinct innate characteristics of these two medical systems. Although great progress has been made and the Chinese mHealth market size is large, there still exist many opportunities for future development, especially for TCM.
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