Privacy Issues in Smartphone Applications: An Analysis of Headache/Migraine Applications

Minen, Mia T.; Stieglitz, Eric J.; Sciortino, Rose; Torous, John

doi:10.1111/head.13341

Cited by 40 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…However, the evaluation of the privacy (and security) of health care apps remains a challenge. Inspection of app privacy policies has proven valuable in highlighting potential risks, such as whether users are offered routes to edit, amend, and delete personal data, 6 , 11 , 21 including within apps that target depression. 22 However, technical assessment that includes the interception of traffic generated by apps holds the potential to uncover issues not apparent on examination of policy text alone.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of the Data Sharing and Privacy Practices of Smartphone Apps for Depression and Smoking Cessation

2019

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Key Points Question Do the privacy policies of popular smartphone applications (apps) for depression and smoking cessation describe accurately whether data will be processed by commercial third parties? Findings In this cross-sectional study of 36 top-ranked apps for depression and smoking cessation available in public app stores, 29 transmitted data to services provided by Facebook or Google, but only 12 accurately disclosed this in a privacy policy. Meaning Health care professionals prescribing apps should not rely on disclosures about data sharing in health app privacy policies but should reasonably assume that data will be shared with commercial entities whose own privacy practices have been questioned and, if possible, should consider only apps with data transmission behaviors that have been subject to direct scrutiny.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of the Data Sharing and Privacy Practices of Smartphone Apps for Depression and Smoking Cessation

2019

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“…Although mHealth apps hold promise as self-management, monitoring, and behavior-change tools, among others, many smartphone users do not download mHealth apps because of lack of interest, cost, and concern about apps collecting their data [ 12 ]. Some studies have proven that there is cause for users’ concerns about both the privacy and security of these apps [ 13 ] and some assess only the lack of privacy of several of these apps [ 14 , 15 ]. It is, therefore, important to have the right tools to evaluate privacy and security levels by identifying different methods of assessing mHealth apps.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Privacy Assessment in Mobile Health Apps: Scoping Review

Benjumea

Ropero

Rivera-Romero

et al. 2020

JMIR Mhealth Uhealth

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Background Privacy has always been a concern, especially in the health domain. The proliferation of mobile health (mHealth) apps has led to a large amount of sensitive data being generated. Some authors have performed privacy assessments of mHealth apps. They have evaluated diverse privacy components; however, different authors have used different criteria for their assessments. Objective This scoping review aims to understand how privacy is assessed for mHealth apps, focusing on the components, scales, criteria, and scoring methods used. A simple taxonomy to categorize the privacy assessments of mHealth apps based on component evaluation is also proposed. Methods We followed the methodology defined by Arksey and O’Malley to conduct a scoping review. Included studies were categorized based on the privacy component, which was assessed using the proposed taxonomy. Results The database searches retrieved a total of 710 citations—24 of them met the defined selection criteria, and data were extracted from them. Even though the inclusion criteria considered articles published since 2009, all the studies that were ultimately included were published from 2014 onward. Although 12 papers out of 24 (50%) analyzed only privacy, 8 (33%) analyzed both privacy and security. Moreover, 4 papers (17%) analyzed full apps, with privacy being just part of the assessment. The evaluation criteria used by authors were heterogeneous and were based on their experience, the literature, and/or existing legal frameworks. Regarding the set of items used for the assessments, each article defined a different one. Items included app permissions, analysis of the destination, analysis of the content of communications, study of the privacy policy, use of remote storage, and existence of a password to access the app, among many others. Most of the included studies provided a scoring method that enables the comparison of privacy among apps. Conclusions The privacy assessment of mHealth apps is a complex task, as the criteria used by different authors for their evaluations are very heterogeneous. Although some studies about privacy assessment have been conducted, a very large set of items to evaluate privacy has been used up until now. In-app information and privacy policies are primarily utilized by the scientific community to extract privacy information from mHealth apps. The creation of a scale based on more objective criteria is a desirable step forward for privacy assessment in the future.

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“…On the other hand, they may be associated to limitations, such as the use of self-reported questionnaires. In addition, safety concerns arise so that compliance procedures should be adopted to avoid the use of data for targeted advertising 26 . Therefore, such devices must be tested and scientifically evaluated prior to its use and must be developed under medical expertise to be used as auxiliary tools.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of Work Productivity and Activity Impairment (WPAI) questionnaire for migraine with the help of a smartphone app

Domingues

Picon

VESCOVi

et al. 2020

Arq. Neuro-Psiquiatr.

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ABSTRACT Background: Migraine is a major cause of disability, which affects many areas of life, including productivity at work. Measuring absenteeism and presenteeism resulting from migraine with the use of appropriate tools is essential for better understanding the impact of this disease. Objective: The aim of the present study was to assess the work impact of migraine using the Brazilian Portuguese version of Work Productivity and Activity Impairment (WPAI) questionnaire. Methods: This survey was carried out with the aid of a smartphone app (Dr Cefaleia for Doctors) containing the questionnaires: ID-Migraine, Headache Impact Test (HIT-6), and WPAI. The data were collected during a headache awareness event. Correlations were assessed between migraine impact (HIT-6) with WPAI parameters: a) work time missed (absenteeism), b) impairment at work (presenteeism), c) overall work productivity loss (absenteeism+presenteeism), and d) activity impairment outside work. Results: Overall, 305 subjects with headache were interviewed and 167 were classified as having migraine. No significant differences in migraine impact according to sex (p=0.8) and modality of work were registered (p=0.8). Females had significantly higher absenteeism score (p<0.001), but presenteeism score was not significantly different between genders (p=0.3). WPAI absenteeism and presenteeism scores significantly correlated with migraine impact (HIT-6). Conclusions: The results suggest WPAI Brazilian Portuguese version was efficient in assessing migraine related work impact. The use of an app with validated questionnaires facilitates the conduction of migraine impact research in different populations, allowing a better understanding of the burden of this disease.

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Privacy Issues in Smartphone Applications: An Analysis of Headache/Migraine Applications

Abstract: Headache apps shared information with third parties, posing privacy risks partly because there are few legal protections against the sale or disclosure of data from medical apps to third parties.

Cited by 40 publications

References 21 publications

Assessment of the Data Sharing and Privacy Practices of Smartphone Apps for Depression and Smoking Cessation

Assessment of the Data Sharing and Privacy Practices of Smartphone Apps for Depression and Smoking Cessation

Privacy Assessment in Mobile Health Apps: Scoping Review

Assessment of Work Productivity and Activity Impairment (WPAI) questionnaire for migraine with the help of a smartphone app

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