title: Expert Involvement and Adherence to Medical Evidence in Medical Mobile Phone Apps: A Systematic Review.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Both clinicians and patients use medical mobile phone apps. Anyone can publish medical apps, which leads to contents with variable quality that may have a serious impact on human lives. We herein provide an overview of the prevalence of expert involvement in app development and whether or not app contents adhere to current medical evidence.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To systematically review studies evaluating expert involvement or adherence of app content to medical evidence in medical mobile phone apps.
  
  
  METHODS
  We systematically searched 3 databases (PubMed, The Cochrane Library, and EMBASE), and included studies evaluating expert involvement or adherence of app content to medical evidence in medical mobile phone apps. Two authors performed data extraction independently. Qualitative analysis of the included studies was performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Based on inclusion criteria, 52 studies were included in this review. These studies assessed a total of 6520 apps. Studies dealt with a variety of medical specialties and topics. As much as 28 studies assessed expert involvement, which was found in 9-67% of the assessed apps. Thirty studies (including 6 studies that also assessed expert involvement) assessed adherence of app content to current medical evidence. Thirteen studies found that 10-87% of the assessed apps adhered fully to the compared evidence (published studies, recommendations, and guidelines). Seventeen studies found that none of the assessed apps (n=2237) adhered fully to the compared evidence.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Most medical mobile phone apps lack expert involvement and do not adhere to relevant medical evidence.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Clinical Education, The Capital Region of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark. ysubhi@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Yousif
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6620-5365
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Subhi
authors.forename: Sarah Hjartbro
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5081-3646
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Bube
authors.forename: Signe
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4864-9776
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rolskov Bojsen
authors.forename: Ann Sofia
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4249-581X
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Skou Thomsen
authors.forename: Lars
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1258-5822
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Konge
keywords: mHealth; mobile apps; technology