BACKGROUND
Digital health apps have become more common in patient care; however, regulatory and clinical frameworks for evaluating their key features, effectiveness, and outcomes are lacking.
OBJECTIVE
This analysis aims to use a structured evaluation framework to broadly assess current cardiovascular health apps compared with apps applicable to psychiatric conditions.
METHODS
A total of 96 commercially available cardiovascular and mental health apps were randomly sampled. Using the MINDApps framework, key features for apps for each disease category were compared.
RESULTS
A total of 96 applications were included in the sample of apps screened from the Apple App store and Google Play store (48 from each category). The MINDapps framework, with limited refinement specific to cardiovascular conditions, provided objective assessment of app features similar to its navigation of mental heal apps. Few apps had clear evidence supporting their effectiveness, and most collected data predominantly via survey or patient-reported symptoms with limited utilization of phone-based or external sensors for objective biologic data. While the majority of apps had privacy policies, most also shared patient health information with third parties.
CONCLUSIONS
The current app marketplace rests on a limited clinical foundation, introduces numerous privacy and security concerns, and only lightly implements unique data collection features to increase ease of access. The MIND platform allows for users to better understand which apps to avoid or implement when beginning care plans.
CLINICALTRIAL
N/A