Effectiveness of Mobile Medical Apps in Ensuring Medication Safety Among Patients With Chronic Diseases: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
BackgroundAlong with the rapid growth of the global aging society, the mobile and health digital market has expanded greatly. Countless mobile medical apps (mmApps) have sprung up in the internet market, aiming to help patients with chronic diseases achieve medication safety....
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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JMIR Publications
2022-11-01
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| Series: | JMIR mHealth and uHealth |
| Online Access: | https://mhealth.jmir.org/2022/11/e39819 |
| _version_ | 1797734566553714688 |
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| author | Ting ting Zhou Rui Wang Si jia Gu Li ling Xie Qing hua Zhao Ming zhao Xiao Yu lu Chen |
| author_facet | Ting ting Zhou Rui Wang Si jia Gu Li ling Xie Qing hua Zhao Ming zhao Xiao Yu lu Chen |
| author_sort | Ting ting Zhou |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
BackgroundAlong with the rapid growth of the global aging society, the mobile and health digital market has expanded greatly. Countless mobile medical apps (mmApps) have sprung up in the internet market, aiming to help patients with chronic diseases achieve medication safety.
ObjectiveBased on the medication safety action plans proposed by the World Health Organization, we aimed to explore the effectiveness of mmApps in ensuring the medication safety of patients with chronic diseases, including whether mmApps can improve the willingness to report adverse drug events (ADEs), improve patients' medication adherence, and reduce medication errors. We hoped to verify our hypothesis through a systematic review and meta-analysis.
MethodsThe meta-analysis was performed in strict accordance with the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines and included literature searched from 7 databases—PubMed, Web Of Science, Embase, CINAHL, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, and SinoMed. The publication time was limited to the time of database establishment to April 30, 2022. Studies were screened based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. The data extracted included authors, years of publication, countries or regions, participants’ characteristics, intervention groups, and control groups, among others. Our quality assessment followed the guidelines of the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions, Version 6.3. RevMan 5.2 software (Cochrane Collaboration) was used to analyze the statistical data, and a sensitivity analysis was performed to assess data stability. The degree of stability was calculated by using a different statistical method and excluding large-sample studies from the analysis.
ResultsWe included 8 studies from 5 countries (China, the United States, France, Canada, and Spain) that were published from January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2021. The total number of participants was 1355, and we analyzed the characteristics of included studies, each app’s features, the risk of bias, and quality. The results showed that mmApps could increase ADE reporting willingness (relative risk [RR] 2.59, 95% CI 1.26-5.30; P=.009) and significantly improve medication adherence (RR 1.17, 95% CI 1.04-1.31; P=.007), but they had little effect on reducing medication errors (RR 1.54, 95% CI 0.33-7.29; P=.58).
ConclusionsWe analyzed the following three merits of mmApps, with regard to facilitating the willingness to report ADEs: mmApps facilitate more communication between patients and physicians, patients attach more importance to ADE reporting, and the processing of results is transparent. The use of mmApps improved medication adherence among patients with chronic diseases by conveying medical solutions, providing educational support, tracking medications, and allowing for remote consultations. Finally, we found 3 potential reasons for why our medication error results differed from those of other studies.
Trial RegistrationPROSPERO International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews CRD42022322072; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=322072 |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T12:46:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-33e1e2160c6c4db5a6137c129f279944 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2291-5222 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T12:46:13Z |
| publishDate | 2022-11-01 |
| publisher | JMIR Publications |
| record_format | Article |
| series | JMIR mHealth and uHealth |
| spelling | doaj.art-33e1e2160c6c4db5a6137c129f2799442023-08-28T23:19:15ZengJMIR PublicationsJMIR mHealth and uHealth2291-52222022-11-011011e3981910.2196/39819Effectiveness of Mobile Medical Apps in Ensuring Medication Safety Among Patients With Chronic Diseases: Systematic Review and Meta-analysisTing ting Zhouhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-8636-0215Rui Wanghttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-3713-936XSi jia Guhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-0798-296XLi ling Xiehttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-7516-0696Qing hua Zhaohttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-0403-3574Ming zhao Xiaohttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-0694-1234Yu lu Chenhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-9507-3592 BackgroundAlong with the rapid growth of the global aging society, the mobile and health digital market has expanded greatly. Countless mobile medical apps (mmApps) have sprung up in the internet market, aiming to help patients with chronic diseases achieve medication safety. ObjectiveBased on the medication safety action plans proposed by the World Health Organization, we aimed to explore the effectiveness of mmApps in ensuring the medication safety of patients with chronic diseases, including whether mmApps can improve the willingness to report adverse drug events (ADEs), improve patients' medication adherence, and reduce medication errors. We hoped to verify our hypothesis through a systematic review and meta-analysis. MethodsThe meta-analysis was performed in strict accordance with the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines and included literature searched from 7 databases—PubMed, Web Of Science, Embase, CINAHL, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, and SinoMed. The publication time was limited to the time of database establishment to April 30, 2022. Studies were screened based on inclusion and exclusion criteria. The data extracted included authors, years of publication, countries or regions, participants’ characteristics, intervention groups, and control groups, among others. Our quality assessment followed the guidelines of the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions, Version 6.3. RevMan 5.2 software (Cochrane Collaboration) was used to analyze the statistical data, and a sensitivity analysis was performed to assess data stability. The degree of stability was calculated by using a different statistical method and excluding large-sample studies from the analysis. ResultsWe included 8 studies from 5 countries (China, the United States, France, Canada, and Spain) that were published from January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2021. The total number of participants was 1355, and we analyzed the characteristics of included studies, each app’s features, the risk of bias, and quality. The results showed that mmApps could increase ADE reporting willingness (relative risk [RR] 2.59, 95% CI 1.26-5.30; P=.009) and significantly improve medication adherence (RR 1.17, 95% CI 1.04-1.31; P=.007), but they had little effect on reducing medication errors (RR 1.54, 95% CI 0.33-7.29; P=.58). ConclusionsWe analyzed the following three merits of mmApps, with regard to facilitating the willingness to report ADEs: mmApps facilitate more communication between patients and physicians, patients attach more importance to ADE reporting, and the processing of results is transparent. The use of mmApps improved medication adherence among patients with chronic diseases by conveying medical solutions, providing educational support, tracking medications, and allowing for remote consultations. Finally, we found 3 potential reasons for why our medication error results differed from those of other studies. Trial RegistrationPROSPERO International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews CRD42022322072; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=322072https://mhealth.jmir.org/2022/11/e39819 |
| spellingShingle | Ting ting Zhou Rui Wang Si jia Gu Li ling Xie Qing hua Zhao Ming zhao Xiao Yu lu Chen Effectiveness of Mobile Medical Apps in Ensuring Medication Safety Among Patients With Chronic Diseases: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis JMIR mHealth and uHealth |
| title | Effectiveness of Mobile Medical Apps in Ensuring Medication Safety Among Patients With Chronic Diseases: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis |
| title_full | Effectiveness of Mobile Medical Apps in Ensuring Medication Safety Among Patients With Chronic Diseases: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis |
| title_fullStr | Effectiveness of Mobile Medical Apps in Ensuring Medication Safety Among Patients With Chronic Diseases: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis |
| title_full_unstemmed | Effectiveness of Mobile Medical Apps in Ensuring Medication Safety Among Patients With Chronic Diseases: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis |
| title_short | Effectiveness of Mobile Medical Apps in Ensuring Medication Safety Among Patients With Chronic Diseases: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis |
| title_sort | effectiveness of mobile medical apps in ensuring medication safety among patients with chronic diseases systematic review and meta analysis |
| url | https://mhealth.jmir.org/2022/11/e39819 |
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