BACKGROUND
Smart healthcare devices are being increasingly employed to support medical services, and evidence has shown promising results in using such tools for smoking cessation, but there has been no scoping review on this topic so far and the trends of research in this area has not been fully examined. This review provides a comprehensive evaluation of research in this area.
OBJECTIVE
This scoping review aimed to analyze the research trends in this area to speculate on the future of smart health devices for smoking cessation.
METHODS
The study was based on the methodology of scoping review. Literature searches were done in PubMed, EMBASE, MEDLINE using terms related to smart healthcare. Titles, abstracts, and full reports were reviewed independently by two reviewers. Papers were included if they focused on discussing smart healthcare interventions for smoking cessation. Data were extracted independently by two reviewers.
RESULTS
Searches identified 3982 references and 25 papers were included in the scoping review. Mobile applications was the most numerous category of studies, making up 56% (n=14) of all studies and this had increased markedly in recent 5 years. We identified 6 types of outcome measures. Besides quit rate, user attitude was the most frequently measured outcome, accounting for 44% (n=11) of the studies. Nine studies targeted special populations other than general adult smokers, nearly half (n=4) of which targeted adolescents or young adults.
CONCLUSIONS
Besides quit rate, the researchers put most focus on user attitude. Use of mobile applications seem to be the mainstream in the future among smart healthcare interventions for smoking cessation. Future research including more keywords related to smart healthcare interventions is needed for a comprehensive understanding of this field.