Disclosures: Ryan Paul Nussbaum, DO: Nothing to disclose

Objective: Define how medical mobile applications (apps) have been used in environments relevant to physical medicine and rehabilitation using a systematic review.

Design: A systematic review was conducted according to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines.

Setting: Two investigators conducted a structured search of the following databases: PUBMED, IEEE, ACM Digital Library, SCOPUS, INSPEC, and EMBASE. A 10-year date limit was used, spanning publication dates from June 1, 2006, to June 30, 2016. Terms related to physical medicine and rehabilitation and mobile apps were used in 10 individual search strategies in each of the 6 databases.

Participants: n/a

Interventions: n/a

Main Outcome Measures: Characteristics of the app and research were collected for each study including: technology used, type of app, purpose of app, study design, number of participants, randomization, blinding, outcome measures, results, author conclusions, and completeness of data and bias. In addition, each app was reviewed for the following functionalities: connection to electronic health record, gamification, goal setting, HIPAA compliance, journaling/flowsheet, medication management, personal health record, photos, reminders, secure messaging, and surveys/symptom reporting. All apps were categorized as one of the following: Lifestyle-oriented, Patient-oriented, Clinician-oriented, or mHealth systems.

Results: The search yielded abstracts from 8116 studies, and 102 studies were included in the systematic review. Tables were created for the main outcome measures listed above into the following categories: Stroke, Musculoskeletal, Spinal Cord Injury, Traumatic Brain Injury, Cardiac, Pulmonary, Neurologic, Cancer & Pain, Non-Specific/General Rehab, and Measurement Tool Apps.

Conclusions: Of the 102 studies that met inclusion criteria, one-third of the studies evaluated apps as interventions, and the remaining two-thirds of the studies assessed functioning of the app or participant interaction with the app. Some apps may have positive benefits when used to deliver exercise or gait training interventions, as self-management systems, or as measurement tools.

Level of Evidence: Level II

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PM&R Meeting Abstracts - https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/systematic-review-of-mobile-health-applications-in-rehabilitation/