ReviewCureus2022
Mobile Health Applications for Depression in China: A Systematic Review.
Review in Cureus, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 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
4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 6 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Evaluating the Impact of an mHealth Platform for Managing Acute Postoperative Dental Pain: Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2023Trial
- Cross-Analysis of mHealth Social Acceptance Among Youth: A Comparative Study Between Japan and China.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The preferences for the telemedicine and standard health care services from the perspective of the patients with schizophrenia.BMC psychiatry · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
11 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Mobile health (mHealth) applications (apps) have the potential to increase access to mental health care. In China, there is growing interest in mHealth apps for depression. Our objective was to systematically review research on mHealth for depression in China to identify benefits and challenges. A systematic literature search was conducted using Chinese and English databases in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Randomized and nonrandomized clinical studies on mHealth apps and depression in China were included. Study quality was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool. Seven studies met the inclusion criteria with three randomized trials, two quasi-randomized trials, one clinical trial with an uncertain grouping method, and one study with a single-group design. All studies used the WeChat platform and included activities such as psychoeducation, self-management, supervised group chats, and/or remote contact with a healthcare team, in comparison to usual care. All studies reported significant and large benefits for outcomes, but the risk of bias was high. There are few rigorous evaluations of mHealth apps for depression in China, with all included studies involving WeChat programs and most using WeChat to extend nursing discharge care for inpatients with depression. While these studies showed significant improvement in health outcomes as compared to usual care, the results remain inconclusive because of the high risk of bias. mHealth holds promise for increasing access to mental health care in China, but issues such as efficacy, scalability, patient and clinician acceptability, and data privacy must be addressed.
Indexed as
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.