Mobile Health Apps for Self-Management of Rheumatic and Musculoskeletal Diseases: Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

BackgroundAlthough the increasing availability of mobile health (mHealth) apps may enable people with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases (RMDs) to better self-manage their health, there is a general lack of evidence on ways to ensure appropriate development and evaluation of apps.ObjectiveThis study aimed to obtain an overview on existing mHealth apps for self-management in patients with RMDs, focusing on content and development methods.MethodsA search was performed up to December 2017 across 5 databases. For each publication relevant to an app for RMDs, information on the disease, purpose, content, and development strategies was extracted and qualitatively assessed.ResultsOf 562 abstracts, 32 were included in the analysis. Of these 32 abstracts, 11 (34%) referred to an app linked to a connected device. Most of the apps targeted rheumatoid arthritis (11/32, 34%). The top three aspects addressed by the apps were pain (23/32, 71%), fatigue (15/32, 47%), and physical activity (15/32, 47%). The development process of the apps was described in 84% (27/32) of the articles and was of low to moderate quality in most of the cases. Despite most of the articles having been published within the past two years, only 5 apps were still commercially available at the time of our search. Moreover, only very few studies showed improvement of RMD outcome measures.ConclusionsThe development process of most apps was of low or moderate quality in many studies. Owing to the increasing RMD patients’ willingness to use mHealth apps for self-management, optimal standards and quality assurance of new apps are mandatory.

Co-Design in the Development of a Mobile Health App for the Management of Knee Osteoarthritis by Patients and Physicians: Qualitative Study

“…Our findings were highly consistent with key requirements identified by mixed users co-designing rheumatoid arthritis self-management tools, including customization, self-regulation, and exercise planning or follow-up [ 47 ]. They were also consistent with general design features of effective electronic health interventions, including social context and support, contacts with intervention, tailoring, and self-management [ 12 , 13 , 51 , 52 ].…”

“…Our prioritized functional requirements address documented gaps [ 8 ], effective design features [ 12 , 52 ], and core mHealth characteristics [ 57 ]. For patients, prioritized requirements addressed the inability of patients to track/assess symptoms (eg, pain), a lack of apps to support shared decision making with providers and support more informed patient self-management, and broadened focus beyond education [ 12 , 13 , 51 ]. For providers, prioritized requirements addressed the ability of an app to facilitate joint function measurement and enhanced decision support.…”

“…Despite the doubling of osteoarthritis-targeted mHealth apps over the last decade, both app volume and app research focused on knee osteoarthritis are incongruent with its high global prevalence [ 12 ]. Most current apps fail to meet patient and provider expectations for disease management, data sharing, and enhancing communication [ 8 , 13 , 14 ].…”

Influence of COVID-19 pandemic on decisions for the management of people with inflammatory rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases: a survey among EULAR countries

“… 15 16 Besides, we have insufficient data on the effectiveness of telemedicine in rheumatology and need to know more about how and when telemedicine might efficaciously replace live visits. 17 Given the expected increase in the prevalence of inflammatory and non-inflammatory RMDs in future due to an ageing population and other reasons, and the expected insufficient growth of workforce in rheumatology, 18 19 telemedicine and strategies to better prioritise visits are essential to maintain high quality of care in RMDs, irrespective of additional waves of the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

EULAR points to consider for the development, evaluation and implementation of mobile health applications aiding self-management in people living with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases

“…A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted by the fellow (AN) under the supervision of the methodologists 20. The SLR objective was to obtain detailed information on existing mHealth apps to aid self-management among people living with RMDs, focusing on content and development methods.…”