Mobile Health Tools for the Management of Chronic Respiratory Diseases

Background: The market of mobile health (mHealth) technology is rapidly evolving, making new mobile technologies potentially available for healthcare systems. Patient empowerment through self-monitoring of symptoms, shared decision making with the physician, and easily accessible education are important features extending the reach of mHealth technology beyond traditional care.

Methods: Two digital distribution platforms (Apple App Store and Google Play Store) were searched for currently available mobile applications (apps) for patients with chronic respiratory diseases (CRDs). A new index (score ranging from 0 to 10) was developed to assess the potential of apps as a tool to empower patients through mobile technology (based on self-monitoring, personalized feedback, and patient education app features).

Results: One hundred and twelve apps were retained for analysis and could be classified in 5 categories: Asthma (n = 71), COPD (n = 15), Asthma and COPD (n = 15), Rhinitis and Asthma (n = 5), and Rhinosinusitis (n = 6). Eighty percent were developed by medical technology companies compared to 18% by medical doctors and 2% by pharmaceutical companies. Two-thirds of apps allow disease self-monitoring, whereas over half of apps provide patient feedback through graphs. Sixty percent of apps contain easily accessible patient education material. Only three percent of apps reach a score of ≥7 on the newly designed patient empowerment index.

Conclusions: A variety of apps are available for patients with CRDs of which only few were developed by or jointly with medical doctors. The majority of these apps include self-monitoring tools, but only few also provide personalized feedback, which is needed to adopt these apps into daily care.