Previously submitted to: JMIR mHealth and uHealth (no longer under consideration since Dec 20, 2022)
Date Submitted: May 10, 2022
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Mobile health apps for supporting brace treatment of patients with idiopathic scoliosis: a scoping review
ABSTRACT
Background:
Idiopathic scoliosis is one of the most common musculoskeletal disorders related to the spine. Brace treatment has emerged as a proven method to treat scoliosis; however, compliance of patients has been reported to be poor. Mobile health (mHealth), such as smartphone applications, can help support brace treatment for idiopathic scoliosis.
Objective:
This study reviewed published literature on mHealth apps to support the brace treatment of scoliosis patients and documented currently available commercial mHealth apps that help the patient’s bracing.
Methods:
Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines, we searched commercial mHealth apps in Google Play and the App Store, and used five electronic databases for a comprehensive published literature search conducted in February 2022.
Results:
Four published studies and eight commercial mHealth apps were included in the final analysis. Consequently, four categories (data acquisition, compliance enhancement, educational components, additional functionalities) and twelve subcategories of functionalities (scoliosis severity check, brace wearing time import, brace connection with sensors, goal setting, data visualization, motivation, testimonial and practical tips, general information of scoliosis, PSSE, brace wearing time export, direct communication, appointment reminder) were evaluated. This review revealed that the quality of these apps was not high by transparency, health content, excellent technical content, security/privacy, issues of usability, and subjective ratings (THESIS) guidelines.
Conclusions:
It is necessary to develop appropriate and diverse functionalities through high quality apps for supporting brace treatment of patients with idiopathic scoliosis.
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