Availability of Spanish-Language Medical Apps in Google Play and the App Store: Retrospective Descriptive Analysis Using Google Tools.

BACKGROUND: The number of medical and health apps in the App Store and Google Play repositories has been increasing in the recent years, and most of these apps are in English. However, little is known about the domain of Spanish health apps and their evolution. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to perform a retrospective descriptive analysis of medical apps for patients in the Spanish language by using Google search tools over a 5-year period and to compare the results by using a reproducible methodology to obtain a better knowledge of the medical apps available in the Spanish Language. METHODS: Over a 5-year period, medical apps were catalogued using a Google-based methodology. Keywords of the first 14 categories of the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision, were selected, and in December of each year, searches of the URLs of Google Play and the App Store were conducted using Google Advanced Search. The first 10 results were taken, and apps meeting the inclusion criteria were selected and rated with the iSYScore method. RESULTS: Out of a sample of 1358 apps, 136 met the inclusion criteria. The 3 main categories of the medical apps were in the fields of endocrinology (diabetes), respiratory (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, asthma, and allergies), and neurology (multiple sclerosis, Parkinson disease, and Alzheimer disease). Few apps were maintained over the 5 years. Only 10 of the 136 apps were maintained for 3 years or more. There was a large number of original apps in other languages that were translated into Spanish (56/136, 41.2%). In the last year of the study, the main reason (73/280, 26.1%) for discarding an app was the date of the last update. CONCLUSIONS: The market of Spanish apps is poor; only few apps have appeared repeatedly over 5 years. Differences were found with the international market in terms of apps related to mental health, heart and circulatory system, and cancer, and coincidences were found in the relevance of apps for diabetes control.

Mobile Health Projects in a High-Complexity Reference Hospital: Case Study.

BACKGROUND: The widespread adoption of mobile and wearable devices and apps makes it essential to assess their possible impact on the management of health and diseases. Health care providers (HCPs) find themselves faced with a new situation in their setting with the proliferation of mobile health (mHealth) intervention tests. Few studies have addressed the development of mHealth and the methodologies to manage these apps in a tertiary hospital. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the mHealth projects implemented in the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona to increase awareness of the context in which they are used and to develop policies for the development of good practice in mHealth innovation. METHODS: A prospective, descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in a highly specialized university hospital with 850 beds for adults and a reference population of 520,000 inhabitants. A specific questionnaire was developed based on the Mobile Health 5 Dimensions European (MOHE 5D-EU) theoretical model to find mHealth projects. Apps, telemedicine, and wearable devices were included in the systematic search. For that purpose, a vertical (top-down) email-based snowball process was conducted. Data were collected from February to December 2018 by conducting personal interviews with HCPs using a structured questionnaire. RESULTS: During the study period, 45 interviews were conducted; 35 mHealth initiatives were found, with 25 targeted to patients and 10 to health professionals. Most mHealth initiatives (34/35, 97%) were related to the software field (apps and telemedicine initiatives), and one was related to wearable devices. Among the projects, 68% (24/35) were classified as medical devices or developments at the edge (developments susceptible to limitations depending on the intended use). In relation to data protection, 27 initiatives managing personal data (27/35, 77%) considered data protection legislation. Only 9% (3/35) of the initiatives had foreseen the use of interconnectivity standards. Most of the initiatives were funded by grants (14/35, 40%), sponsorships (5/35, 14%), or the hospital itself (5/35, 14%). In terms of clinical management, most projects were developed in the field of research, followed by professional tools, clinical information, and therapeutic education. Only 6 projects were involved with health care; all were led by either the industry or small and medium enterprises. CONCLUSIONS: This study helped create the design of a map of the mHealth projects conducted in our hospital that showed the stages of development of the different ongoing projects. This will allow monitoring of mHealth projects and construction of tools to reinforce areas with detected deficiencies. Our theoretical approach using a modified MOHE 5D-EU model was found to be useful for analyzing the characteristics of mHealth projects.