ArticleJMIR public health and surveillance2023
Changes in Mobile Health Apps Usage Before and After the COVID-19 Outbreak in China: Semilongitudinal Survey.
Article in JMIR public health and surveillance, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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11 citing papers in PubMed, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Considerations for Nurses in Recommending mHealth Apps for People Living With Chronic Conditions: A Qualitative Study.Nursing open · 2026Article
- Determining the adoption intention and influencing factors of telerehabilitation by people with rehabilitation needs: a cross-sectional survey.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Mobile apps for psychotic disorders: a systematic review protocol.Systematic reviews · 2026Article
- Using mHealth to Predict Asthma Exacerbations in Children and Adolescents (Mobile Health for Kids With Asthma): Protocol for an Observational Study.JMIR research protocols · 2025Article
- Implementation of a coach-supported mHealth intervention for dementia prevention in China: a qualitative study among Chinese participants and coaches in the PRODEMOS trial.Journal of global health · 2025Article
- Effect of the Big Five Personality on the intention to use mHealth applications among the Chinese elderly: a national-based study.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- French Version of the User Mobile Application Rating Scale: Adaptation and Validation Study.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2024Article
- Evaluating the Usability of mHealth Apps: An Evaluation Model Based on Task Analysis Methods and Eye Movement Data.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- How Social Influence Promotes the Adoption of Mobile Health among Young Adults in China: A Systematic Analysis of Trust, Health Consciousness, and User Experience.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Attributes, Quality, and Downloads of Dementia-Related Mobile Apps for Patients With Dementia and Their Caregivers: App Review and Evaluation Study.JMIR formative research · 2024Article
- Effective analysis of job satisfaction among medical staff in Chinese public hospitals: a random forest model.Frontiers in public health · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
15 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMobile health (mHealth) apps are rapidly emerging technologies in China due to strictly controlled medical needs during the COVID-19 pandemic while continuing essential services for chronic diseases. However, there have been no large-scale, systematic efforts to evaluate relevant apps.
objectiveWe aim to provide a landscape of mHealth apps in China by describing and comparing digital health concerns before and after the COVID-19 outbreak, including mHealth app data flow and user experience, and analyze the impact of COVID-19 on mHealth apps.
methodsWe conducted a semilongitudinal survey of 1593 mHealth apps to study the app data flow and clarify usage changes and influencing factors. We selected mHealth apps in app markets, web pages from the Baidu search engine, the 2018 top 100 hospitals with internet hospitals, and online shopping sites with apps that connect to smart devices. For user experience, we recruited residents from a community in southeastern China from October 2019 to November 2019 (before the outbreak) and from June 2020 to August 2020 (after the outbreak) comparing the attention of the population to apps. We also examined associations between app characteristics, functions, and outcomes at specific quantiles of distribution in download changes using quantile regression models.
resultsRehabilitation medical support was the top-ranked functionality, with a median 1.44 million downloads per app prepandemic and a median 2.74 million downloads per app postpandemic. Among the top 10 functions postpandemic, 4 were related to maternal and child health: pregnancy preparation (ranked second; fold change 4.13), women's health (ranked fifth; fold change 5.16), pregnancy (ranked sixth; fold change 5.78), and parenting (ranked tenth; fold change 4.03). Quantile regression models showed that rehabilitation (P
conclusionsmHealth apps are an effective health care approach gaining in popularity among the Chinese population following the COVID-19 outbreak. This research provides direction for subsequent mHealth app development and promotion in the postepidemic era, supporting medical model reformation in China as a reference, which may provide new avenues for designing and evaluating indirect public health interventions such as health education and health promotion.
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