ArticleArchives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique2026
Personal medical data protection of mobile pharmacy apps in China 2025: scale development and content analysis.
Article in Archives of public health = Archives belges de sante publique, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Research progress in agitation early warning monitoring and new technologies for critically ill patients: a narrative review.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundWith the widespread adoption of smartphones and the increasing demand for convenient access to pharmaceuticals, mobile pharmacy apps that facilitate online medication purchases and provide medication consultation services have rapidly proliferated. These apps require users to consent to the collection of personal information as a prerequisite for utilizing their services, including data such as name, blood type, contact details, medical history, and allergy information. While these mobile pharmacy apps offer significant convenience to patients, they also pose risks to personal privacy and data security.
methodBetween March 15 and April 30, 2025, we accessed the Android and iOS app stores to find, obtain, and select privacy policies of 174 mobile pharmacy apps that provide pharmaceutical sales and consultation services to the general public, and conducted a comprehensive review of the privacy policies of these mobile pharmacy apps in the Chinese mainland. This analysis aims to facilitate a holistic assessment of data privacy practices within this sector. A compliance evaluation scale based on the Personal Information Protection Law and regulations was developed. We developed a 2-level indicator scale based on the PI life cycle. The scale comprised 5 level-1 indicators (PI collection, PI storage, PI usage and rights, PI processing, PI security and remedies) and 38 level-2 indicators.
resultThe compliance rate of privacy policies for 174 mobile pharmacy apps is relatively low (mean 67.30%, SD 20.74%), revealing that the vast majority of mobile pharmacy apps did not formulate their privacy policies in accordance with the laws and regulations. Only a minimal number of apps (n = 2) demonstrated a high (100%) compliance rate for privacy policies, with one each from Android and iOS mobile pharmacy apps. Seventy apps (40.23%) had a privacy policy compliance rate below the average (mean 67.30%), with 47 from the Android App Store (47 out of 119, 39.5%) and 23 from the iOS app stores (23 out of 55, 41.82%).
conclusionOur research reveals that the majority of mobile pharmacy apps exhibit low compliance with personal information regulations, particularly in PI storage, sensitive PI protection, automated decision-making, dead user PI protection, and dispute resolution mechanism. Addressing these deficiencies requires proactive intervention and operation from regulatory authorities, the public, and mobile pharmacy apps.
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.