Allergy Asthma Respir Dis.  2014 Nov;2(5):370-376. 10.4168/aard.2014.2.5.370.

Qualitative assessment of atopic dermatitis-related mobile applications in Korea

• Jin D
• Heo TH
• Lee Y
• Choung JT

• KMID: 1803545
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4168/aard.2014.2.5.370

Abstract

PURPOSE
As the mobile internet spread, patients can access to health information via mobile applications. But this information must be a reliable for treatment. This study evaluated the quality of information of mobile applications that with atopic dermatitis.
METHODS
On April 2014, the 98 mobile applications that had been searched on three application markets using the keywords, 'atopic dermatitis' etc. were enrolled. Thirty-one applications with information about atopic dermatitis written in Korean were surveyed. The informational quality of each application was examined using DISCERN tool and we also examined authorship, price, number of downloads. And we analyzed relations between these factors and informational quality.
RESULTS
The mean score (+/-standard deviation) of overall rating of the publications of the 31 applications were 1.55 (+/-0.888) points. The overall quality of the publication was 'low' in 80.6% of applications, 'moderate' in 16.1%, 'high' in 3.2% of the applications we evaluated. There were no significant differences between the score of price of applications in all questions. However the mean score of group of downloads 1,000 and more were 2.25 (+/-1.035), significantly higher than group of downloads less than 1,000, 1.30 (+/-0.703) (P=0.043).
CONCLUSION
The quality of mobile applications providing health information on atopic dermatitis needs significant improvement. Some guidelines and certifications of the mobile application are needed to provide health information about atopic dermatitis, association with experts.

Keyword

Atopic dermatitis; Mobile applications; Consumer health information

MeSH Terms

Authorship
Certification
Consumer Health Information
Dermatitis, Atopic
Humans
Internet
Korea
Mobile Applications*
Publications

Figure

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  Fig. 1 Mean score of each DISCERN question. The mean score of each DISCERN question showed poor ratings except questions 1, 2, 3.

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  Fig. 2 DISCERN score according to authorship. Mean score of 'Medical' group was significantly higher than the rests in section 3, but not in sections 1, 2. *P<0.05.

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  Fig. 3 DISCERN score according to price. There was no significant difference in mean score between two groups.

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  Fig. 4 DISCERN score according to downloads. Mean score of more downloaded mobile applications was significantly higher than the rest in section 1 and 3, but not in section 2. *P<0.05.

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