Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Public Health and Surveillance
Date Submitted: Jun 27, 2022
Date Accepted: Jan 12, 2023
Date Submitted to PubMed: Jan 12, 2023
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited.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.
Utilization of Mobile Health Apps Before and After the COVID-19 Outbreak in China: Semi-Longitudinal Survey
ABSTRACT
Background:
Mobile health apps (mHealth apps) are rapidly emerging technologies in China following the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, there have been no systematic efforts to evaluate relevant apps.
Objective:
We aim to provide a landscape of mHealth apps on the existing market before and after the COVID-19 outbreak in China.
Methods:
We conducted a semi-longitudinal survey of 1593 mHealth apps comparing population attention, including app data flow and user experience, to clarify usage's changes and influencing factors.
Results:
Rehabilitation of medical support was the top-ranked functionality, with median downloads of 1.44 million in pre-pandemic and 2.74 million per app in post-pandemic. Four functions related to maternal and child health were among the top ten in post-pandemic: pregnancy preparation (ranked second), women's health (fifth), pregnancy (sixth), and parenting (tenth). Quantile regression models showed that rehabilitation (P90), pregnancy preparation (P90), bodybuilding (P50, P90), and vaccination (P75) were positively associated with the increase in downloads after the outbreak.
Conclusions:
MHealth apps are an effective healthcare approach gaining in popularity among the Chinese population following the COVID-19 outbreak. The popular apps are providing direction for development of additional mHealth apps.
Citation
