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. 2022 Jan 20:8:20552076221074127.
doi: 10.1177/20552076221074127. eCollection 2022 Jan-Dec.

Smart health via mHealth? Potentials of mobile health apps for improving prevention and adherence of breast cancer patients

Stefanie Scholz  1 , Laura Teetz  2
Affiliations

Smart health via mHealth? Potentials of mobile health apps for improving prevention and adherence of breast cancer patients

Stefanie Scholz et al. Digit Health. .

Abstract

Objective: Today there are several health and medical apps (mHealth) in app stores. Germany is the world's first country that introduced apps paid by the regular health insurance service. Even though breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, mHealth for breast cancer has been largely unexplored.

Methods: A total of 33 apps from two major mobile application marketplaces (Google Play Store/Android; App Store/iOS) have been selected for analysis.

Results: The app analysis shows that there are currently only 10 mHealth apps in German, which are specifically dedicated to breast cancer patients. The features of these apps fall into two categories: improvement of health literacy and indirect intervention. These apps can be used for all phases of the patient journey starting with the diagnosis.

Conclusions: mHealth apps have the potential to support the adherence of breast cancer patients. In order to exploit this future potential, the app quality, as well as the information about the available apps, must be urgently improved. Currently, it is very difficult both for laypersons and for doctors/other therapists to identify high-quality apps. Guidance from independent or governmental institutions would be helpful to further the digitalization in health care.

Keywords: apps; breast cancer; cancer; digital health; eHealth; mHealth; mobile applications; oncology.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. Meanwhile, LT is an employee of Sanacorp, a pharmaceutical wholesaler, there are no conflicting interests.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Factors of adherence. Source: Diagram by the authors based on Geynisman and Wickersham.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Patient journey of breast cancer patients. Source: Own representation based on Thrift-Perry et al.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Selection process of the examined apps. Source: Own presentation.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Number of apps per phase of the patient journey. Source: Own presentation.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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