Evaluation of mHealth Applications Related to Cardiovascular Diseases: a Systematic Review

Acta Inform Med. 2020 Jun;28(2):130-137. doi: 10.5455/aim.2020.28.130-137.

Abstract

Introduction: Currently, with the widespread penetration of mobile devices with Internet access, including smartphones, they can allow specific and/or complementary activities in the health field as well as in other commercial sectors.

Aim: This systematic review examined the impact of mHealth-based for cardiovascular research. The specific aims of the systematic review are to (1) classification of the studies according to the type of research (scientific articles and master's and doctoral theses) and (2) relationship of studies with topics associated with cardiovascular diseases.

Results: This review corresponds to information in scientific journals of high impact. This review intends to respond to the following question: How these research works have evaluated the performance of health mobile applications, with a special interest in cardiac issues? This review of these searches corresponds to an analysis by 14 categories, being these: 1) Scientific paper; 2) Doctoral Thesis; 3) Master thesis; 4) Telemedicine; 5) m-sssshealth, e-health; 6) cardiovascular, coronary diseases, heart failures, cardiopulmonary, cardiac rehabilitation; 7) rural health; 8) prevention and control, protection; 9) wearables; 10) mobile, web applications, app, smartphone, software, platform; 11) mhealth education, training, promotion, formative process; 12) self-management; 13) Multiple Vital Sign Monitoring, medical device, heart rate measurement, health care information systems; 14) health regulatory. It provides evidence of how some apps have been evaluated, and in some cases, the effectiveness of the estimated accuracy is not in line with the real situation.

Conclusion: The analysis of these studies allows us to locate the sources of the development of mobile health projects. It also guides us to discover some needs that require new technology implementations.

Keywords: cardiovascular applications; cardiovascular diseases; heart rate monitoring; mobile health development; wearables technologies.

Publication types

  • Review