Mobile health: A comparative study of medical and health applications in Iran

Abstract

Background: The use of mobile phones in the field of medicine is rapidly increasing in developed and developing countries. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of the top mobile applications based on superiority from the user's point of view and medical content. Methods: Information of each app was recorded in a Google Forms, especially designed for this purpose. The Bazaar App Store, which has two main categories for health: medicine and health and fitness, was used as a source for Persian-language Android applications. The apps of these two domains were installed, and our experts reviewed and rated them in terms of content and technical performance. Results: From a total of 3500 applications available in the App Store, 112 apps were selected. Of these, 76.8% were in the field of medicine and 23.2% in the field of health and fitness. The developers of the app consisted of four main groups: (1) nonhealth-care organization, (2) individual app developers, (3) health-care organization, and (4) university or academic research group. The top five major areas of services were: (1) general medical services, (2) addressing medical centers and online appointments, (3) drug information, (4) physical activity and (5) patient follow-up. Conclusion: The review of users' scores and comparing it with the scores of specialists showed that although people tend to use telemedicine services, since there is still no formally approved framework for design and scientific content of these applications, most apps operate in the field of general information and services.