Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Cardio
Date Submitted: Apr 8, 2021
Open Peer Review Period: Apr 8, 2021 - Jun 3, 2021
Date Accepted: Mar 30, 2022
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Smartphone applications managing antithrombotic therapy: a scoping literature review
ABSTRACT
Background:
Antithrombotic therapy is complex and requires informed decisions and high therapy adherence. Several mobile phone applications exist to either support physicians in the management of antithrombotic therapies or to educate and support patients. Both medical evidence and the development background are unknown in the majority of these apps.
Objective:
This review aims to investigate the available literature describing high-quality apps based on professional scientific information.
Methods:
Keywords and MeSH terms were used to search MEDLINE via PubMed and Ovid. Inclusion criteria were full text availability and English language. Apps that solely focused on atrial fibrillation were excluded. Qualitative findings were thematically synthesized and reported narratively.
Results:
Out of 135 identified records, 21 were classified eligible. We identified four meta-groups: apps for patients supporting self-management of vitamin K antagonists, apps for patients increasing therapy adherence, educational apps for patients, and apps for physicians for supporting guideline adherence.
Conclusions:
Throughout the evaluated data, patients receiving antithrombotic drugs expressed the wish for a digital tool supporting their therapy-management in all age groups. In addition, physicians using mobile guideline-based applications might contribute to decreased adverse event rates in their patients. In general, digital apps encompassing both user-friendly design and scientific background may also enhance safety of antithrombotic therapies. However, our evaluation revealed no apps addressing all antithrombotic drugs in combination with perioperative stratification strategies. Currently strict regulations on smartphone applications seem to negatively inflict new developments. Therefore, new legal policies for medical digital applications are urgently needed.
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Copyright
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