Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34009134›Full record

ArticleJMIR mHealth and uHealth2021

Effective German and English Language mHealth Apps for Self-management of Bronchial Asthma in Children and Adolescents: Comparison Study.

Julian Franzmair, Susanne C Diesner-Treiber, Julian J M Voitl, Peter Voitl

Registry-linked trialOpen access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

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. It is linked to trial NCT05633823 (The Effect of Mobile Application Game Training Designed for Children With Asthma on Asthma Management), which is not on this map. Cited by 3 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
2.3field-weighted citation impact, top 11% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

NCT05633823 nacompletednot on this mapstarted 2023, after this paper: background citation

The Effect of Mobile Application Game Training Designed for Children With Asthma on Asthma Management

TypeinterventionalSponsorTarsus UniversityRan2023 to 2023Enrolled74ConditionsAsthma in Children, Life Style, Quality of LifeArmsMobile Application Game Training
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 11 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Mobile health applications designed for self-management of chronic pulmonary diseases in children and adolescents: a systematic mapping review.Jornal brasileiro de pneumologia : publicacao oficial da Sociedade Brasileira de Pneumologia e Tisilogia · 2023
    Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Using Telemedicine to Care for the Asthma Patient.Current allergy and asthma reports · 2022
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Julian Franzmair *First Vienna Pediatric Medical Center, Vienna, Austria.ORCID 0000-0001-6515-5773
Susanne C Diesner-Treiber *First Vienna Pediatric Medical Center, Vienna, Austria.ORCID 0000-0001-8955-4752
Julian J M VoitlFirst Vienna Pediatric Medical Center, Vienna, Austria.ORCID 0000-0003-1754-3215
Peter VoitlFirst Vienna Pediatric Medical Center, Vienna, Austria.ORCID 0000-0002-2312-4423
Sigmund Freud Privatuniversität Wien · AT

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundMobile health (mHealth) apps hold great potential for asthma self-management. Data on the suitability of asthma apps intended for children are insufficient, and the availability of German language apps is still inadequate compared with English language apps.

objectiveThis study aims to identify functional asthma apps for children in German and to compare them with English language apps. In line with the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines, the Google Play Store and Apple App Store are systematically searched to preselect the most efficient apps, which are then compared according to a self-compiled criteria catalog.

methodsBoth app stores were screened for the term asthma. Following a PRISMA preselection process, the apps that met the inclusion criteria (ie, available free of charge, German or English language, and suitable for children) were rated by 3 independent persons following a criteria catalog consisting of 9 categories, some conceived for this purpose (availability, child-friendly, learning factor, and range of functions) and some adopted from existing validated catalogs (functionality and design, ease of use, potential for improving asthma self-management, fun factor and incentives, and information management and medical accuracy). The highest rated apps in German and English were compared.

resultsA total of 403 apps were identified on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. Finally, 24 apps that met the inclusion criteria were analyzed. In the first step of the quality assessment, only 4 available German language asthma apps were compared with 20 English language asthma apps. The 4 German language apps were then compared with the 4 highest rated English language apps. All selected apps, independent of the language, were comparable in the following categories: availability, functionality and design, ease of use, and information management and medical accuracy. The English language apps scored significantly higher in the following categories: potential for improving self-management, child-friendly, fun factor, learning factor, and range of function. English language apps (mean total points 34.164, SD 1.09) performed significantly better than German language asthma apps (mean total points 22.91, SD 2.898; P=.003). The best rated English language app was Kiss my asthma (36/42 points), whereas the best rated German language app Kata achieved only 27.33 points.

conclusionsThe recommended English language apps are Kiss my asthma, AsthmaXcel, AsthmaAustralia, and Ask Me, AsthMe!, whereas the only recommended German language app is Kata. The use of apps plays an increasingly important role in patients' lives and in the medical field, making mHealth a staple in the future of asthma treatment plans. Although validated recommendations on rating mHealth apps have been published, it remains a challenging task for physicians and patients to choose a suitable app for each case, especially in non-English-speaking countries.

Indexed as

AsthmaMobile ApplicationsSelf-ManagementTelemedicineAdolescentChildHumansLanguageappsasthmaEnglishGermanmobile healthmobile phonerecommended appsself-management

Identifiers

PMID34009134
PMCPMC8173395
OpenAlexW3162184283

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

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.