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

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 (χ2 1=16.3,p<.001) and have a fundraising or awareness purpose (χ2 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.