[Mobile health: new perspectives for healthcare provision]

Abstract

Objective: to review and discuss new perspectives for healthcare provision resulting from the development of mobile health and intelligent wearable devices.

Methods: an unsystematic literature review was conducted to identify complete articles published in the last 15 years with titles highlighting the term 'mHealth' and/or 'Smart wearable'.

Results: 467 publications were identified in journals indexed on the CAPES portal, of which 75 were considered for analysis; evidence was then consolidated as to new possibilities arising from the spread of mobile health, grouped into the following categories: 'health status monitoring', 'information transmission and data analysis', and 'diagnosis and therapy'.

Conclusion: the studies reviewed suggest that healthcare provision will change over the coming years with regard to the categories analyzed. This will require adaptation on the part of health professionals, academics and service users.