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A Lot of Action, But Not in the Right Direction: Systematic Review and Content Analysis of Smartphone Applications for the Prevention, Detection, and Management of Cancer
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Mobile phones have become nearly ubiquitous, offering a promising means to deliver health interventions. However, little is known about smartphone applications (apps) for cancer. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to characterize the purpose and content of cancer-focused smartphone apps available for use by the general public and the evidence on their utility or effectiveness. METHODS: We conducted a systematic review of the official application stores for the four major smartphone platforms: iPhone, Android, Nokia, and BlackBerry. Apps were included in the review if they were focused on cancer and available for use by the general public. This was complemented by a systematic review of literature from MEDLINE, Embase, and the Cochrane Library to identify evaluations of cancer-related smartphone apps. RESULTS: A total of 295 apps from the smartphone app stores met the inclusion criteria. The majority of apps targeted breast cancer (46.8%, 138/295) or cancer in general (28.5%, 84/295). The reported app purpose was predominantly to raise awareness about cancer (32.2%, 95/295) or to provide educational information about cancer (26.4%, 78/295), followed by apps to support fundraising efforts (12.9%, 38/295), assist in early detection (11.5%, 34/295), promote a charitable organization (10.2%, 30/295), support disease management (3.7%, 11/295), cancer prevention (2.0%, 6/295), or social support (1.0%, 3/295). The majority of the apps did not describe their organizational affiliation (64.1%, 189/295). Apps affiliated with non-profit organizations were more likely to be free of cost (χ(2) 1=16.3, P<.001) and have a fundraising or awareness purpose (χ(2) 2=13.3, P=.001). The review of the health literature yielded 594 articles, none of which reported an evaluation of a cancer-focused smartphone application. CONCLUSIONS: There are hundreds of cancer-focused apps with the potential to enhance efforts to promote behavior change, to monitor a host of symptoms and physiological indicators of disease, and to provide real-time supportive interventions, conveniently and at low cost. However, there is a lack of evidence on their utility, effectiveness, and safety. Future efforts should focus on improving and consolidating the evidence base into a whitelist for public consumption.
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“many experts remain cautious about the utility of the thousands of apps currently available, either free or at a small charge, for the prevention, detection and management of cancer.6,7”
From Smartphone applications for melanoma detection by community, patient and generalist clinician users: a review (2015) · cites this paper as [6]
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“despite the strong evidence suggesting that the provision of information alone is not an effective intervention to improve patient self-management of chronic disease in primary care.6,18”
From Smartphone applications for melanoma detection by community, patient and generalist clinician users: a review (2015) · cites this paper as [6]
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“which together provide more than 90% of cancer-related apps 6”
From Smartphone applications for melanoma detection by community, patient and generalist clinician users: a review (2015) · cites this paper as [6]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Bender, J. L., Yue, R. Y. K., To, M. J., Deacken, L., & Jadad, A. R.
- Affiliations
- University Health Network (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Bender, Jacqueline Lorene
- Venue
- Journal of Medical Internet Research
- Publisher
- JMIR Publications Inc.
- Published
- 2013-12-23
- Volume
- 15
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- e287
- ISSN
- 1438-8871 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC3875901
- OpenAlex
- W2164995937
- Cited by
- 346
- References
- 24
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 29 · 2021: 35 · 2020: 34 · 2019: 41 · 2018: 42 · 2017: 33 · 2016: 33 · 2015: 31 · 2014: 13
- FWCI
- 3.09
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Journal of Medical Internet Research (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Mobile Learning in Education
- Keywords
- cancer, mobile application, mobile health, cancer prevention, early cancer detection, cancer management, breast cancer, app store analysis, app evaluation, nonprofit organizations, cancer awareness, health behavior change, app security and privacy
- MeSH terms
- Female, Health Promotion, Humans, Male, Neoplasms, Telemedicine, Risk Reduction Behavior, Cell Phone, Mobile Applications
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