Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Jul 11;5(7):e93.
doi: 10.2196/mhealth.7462.

Content Analysis of Smartphone Apps for Smoking Cessation in China: Empirical Study

Feng Cheng  1 , Junfang Xu  1 , Chunyan Su  2 , Xiaoxing Fu  3 , Jonathan Bricker  4
Affiliations

Content Analysis of Smartphone Apps for Smoking Cessation in China: Empirical Study

Feng Cheng et al. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. .

Abstract

Background: With 360 million smokers, China consumes more cigarettes than any other country in the world. Given that 620 million Chinese own smartphones, smartphone apps for smoking cessation are increasingly used in China to help smokers quit.

Objective: This study analyzed and evaluated the contents of all smoking cessation apps (iOS and Android) available in China, applying the China Clinical Smoking Cessation Guideline (CCSCG; identical to the US Clinical Practice Guideline for Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence) as a framework for analysis.

Methods: We conducted a content analysis of Chinese Android and iOS smoking cessation apps (N=64) designed to assist users in quitting smoking. Each app was independently coded by two raters for its approach to smoking cessation and adherence to the CCSCG. We also recorded the features of smoking cessation apps (eg, release date, size, frequency of downloads, user ratings, type, quality scores by raters, and designers). Linear regression was used to test predictors of popularity and user-rated quality.

Results: Chinese smoking cessation apps have low levels of adherence to guidelines, with an average score of 11.1 for Android and 14.6 for iOS apps on a scale of 0 to 46. There was no significant association between popularity, user rating, and the characteristics of apps. However, there was a positive relationship between popularity, user rating, and adherence score.

Conclusions: Chinese apps for smoking cessation have low levels of adherence to standard clinical practice guidelines. New apps need be developed and existing apps be revised following evidence-based principles in China.

Keywords: China; smartphone apps; smoking cessation.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: FC, JX, CS, and XF declare no competing interests. In July 2016, JB was a consultant to GlaxoSmithKline, the manufacturer of nicotine replacement therapies. He currently serves on the scientific advisory board of Chrono Therapeutics, the manufacturer of a nicotine replacement therapy delivery device.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Procedure for selecting Chinese smoking cessation apps.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Mathers CD, Loncar D. Projections of global mortality and burden of disease from 2002 to 2030. PLoS Med. 2006 Nov;3(11):e442. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.0030442. http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0030442 - DOI - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Jha P. Avoidable global cancer deaths and total deaths from smoking. Nat Rev Cancer. 2009:655–664. doi: 10.1038/nrc2703. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Yang Y, Nan Y, Tu M, Wang J, Wang L, Jiang Y. Summary of the 2015 Chinese Adult Tobacco Survey Report. China Health Management Journal. 2016;10(2):85–87. doi: 10.3760/cma.j.issn.1674-0815.2016.02.002. - DOI
    1. Chen Z, Peto R, Zhou M, Iona A, Smith M, Yang L, Guo Y, Chen Y, Bian Z, Lancaster G, Sherliker P, Pang S, Wang H, Su H, Wu M, Wu X, Chen J, Collins R, Li L. Contrasting male and female trends in tobacco-attributed mortality in China: evidence from successive nationwide prospective cohort studies. The Lancet. 2015 Oct;386(10002):1447–1456. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(15)00340-2. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Liu J, Zhu Z, Gao C, Wang X, Zhang Y, Jin W, Qi D, Li M. Long-term effect of persistent smoking on the prognosis of Chinese male patients after percutaneous coronary intervention with drug-eluting stent implantation. J Cardiol. 2013 Nov;62(5):283–288. doi: 10.1016/j.jjcc.2013.05.010. https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0914-5087(13)00175-5 - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources