ReviewNPJ digital medicine2021
Development features and study characteristics of mobile health apps in the management of chronic conditions: a systematic review of randomised trials.
Review in NPJ digital medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 44 papers, 2 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
44 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Effective Behavior Change Techniques in Digital Health Interventions for the Prevention or Management of Noncommunicable Diseases: An Umbrella Review.Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Health Providers' Perceptions and Experiences of Using mHealth for Chronic Noncommunicable Diseases: Qualitative Systematic Review and Meta-Synthesis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Pooled it
- Smart Start - Designing Powerful Clinical Trials Using Pilot Study Data.NEJM evidence · 2024Trial
- A self-service response system to improve nutrition impact symptoms management among home-based patients with advanced cancer and their family caregivers.Asia-Pacific journal of oncology nursing · 2026Article
- Digital Management of Early-Onset Type 2 Diabetes: Empowerment, Challenges, and Future Outlook.Current diabetes reports · 2026Review
- A WeChat mini-program-based perioperative cognitive management tool (WACDAM): development and clinical evaluation in elderly patients undergoing oromaxillofacial malignancy surgery-a mixed-methods study.Perioperative medicine (London, England) · 2026Article
- Technology Acceptance of 2 mHealth Apps During an Observational Technology Evaluation Study: Qualitative Results of a Mixed Methods Study.JMIR human factors · 2026Observational
- YouTube as a Source of Patient Information for Malignant and Benign Primary Bone Tumors.Journal of cancer education : the official journal of the American Association for Cancer Education · 2026Article
- Digital Technologies for Symptom Monitoring in Parkinson Disease.Current neurology and neuroscience reports · 2026Review
- Systematic evaluation of commercially available pain-management mHealth apps for chronic pain in the United Kingdom.British journal of health psychology · 2026Article
- The Role of Digital Media in Chronic Disease Self-Management: Protocol for a Multimethod Study of the DISELMA Research Consortium.JMIR research protocols · 2026Article
- Exploring the Influence of a Novel App for Training and Evaluating Walking Aid Skills in Walking Aid Users: Protocol for a Pragmatic Single-Blind Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2025Article
- Article
- The effect of mobile application-based education on illness perception in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention: a randomized controlled trial.BMC nursing · 2025Article
- Grouping Digital Health Apps Based on Their Quality and User Ratings Using K-Medoids Clustering: Cross-Sectional Study.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2025Article
- Comprehensive policies for scaling systemic and equitable integration of digital health technologies.NPJ digital medicine · 2025Article
- Exploring mHealth interventions for medication management: a scoping review of digital tools, implementation barriers, and patient outcomes.PeerJ. Computer science · 2025Article
- Piloting a cancer awareness app across six European countries: a pre-post study.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Building an intelligent diabetes Q&A system with knowledge graphs and large language models.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Mobile Health for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Patients' Preferences and Perception of Patient-Centeredness.Actas espanolas de psiquiatria · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
COVID-19 pandemic challenges have accelerated the reliance on digital health fuelling the expanded incorporation of mobile apps into healthcare services, particularly for the management of long-term conditions such as chronic diseases (CDs). However, the impact of health apps on outcomes for CD remains unclear, potentially owing to both the poor adoption of formal development standards in the design process and the methodological quality of studies. A systematic search of randomised trials was performed on Medline, ScienceDirect, the Cochrane Library and Scopus to provide a comprehensive outlook and review the impact of health apps on CD. We identified 69 studies on diabetes (n = 29), cardiovascular diseases (n = 13), chronic respiratory diseases (n = 13), cancer (n = 10) or their combinations (n = 4). The apps rarely adopted developmental factors in the design stage, with only around one-third of studies reporting user or healthcare professional engagement. Apps differed significantly in content, with a median of eight behaviour change techniques adopted, most frequently pertaining to the 'Feedback and monitoring' (91%) and 'Shaping knowledge' (72%) categories. As for the study methodologies, all studies adopted a traditional randomised control trial (RCT) design, with relatively short follow-ups and limited sample sizes. Findings were not significant for the majority of studies across all CD, with most RCTs revealing a high risk of bias. To support the adoption of apps for CD management, this review reinforces the need for more robust development and appropriate study characteristics to sustain evidence generation and elucidate whether study results reflect the true benefits of apps or a biased estimate due to unsuitable designs.
Identifiers
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.