Table 1.

Meta‐analyses on the effects of apps on symptoms of depression and generalized anxiety

	Depressive symptoms					Generalized anxiety symptoms
Analysis	n	g (95% CI)	p	I2	NNT	n	g (95% CI)	p	I2	NNT
Apps vs. control conditions	181	0.28 (0.23‐0.33)	<0.001	72%	11.5	150	0.26 (0.21‐0.31)	<0.001	64%	12.4
Lower risk of bias trials only	48	0.32 (0.23‐0.40)	<0.001	80%	9.9	35	0.25 (0.18‐0.33)	<0.001	49%	12.9
Small sample trials removed	60	0.22 (0.15‐0.28)	<0.001	79%	14.9	47	0.22 (0.16‐0.28)	<0.001	67%	14.9
Primary intervention target or outcome	60	0.38 (0.28‐0.48)	<0.001	84%	8.1	45	0.20 (0.13‐0.28)	<0.001	53%	16.5
Outliers removed	147	0.25 (0.21‐0.28)	<0.001	24%	12.9	131	0.23 (0.20‐0.27)	<0.001	16%	14.2
One effect per study (smallest)	145	0.27 (0.22‐0.32)	<0.001	73%	11.9	121	0.25 (0.20‐0.31)	<0.001	69%	12.9
One effect per study (largest)	146	0.31 (0.25‐0.35)	<0.001	75%	10.2	121	0.29 (0.24‐0.35)	<0.001	68%	11.0
Trim‐and‐fill procedure	177	0.29 (0.24‐0.33)	‐	75%	11.0	148	0.26 (0.21‐0.31)	‐	64%	12.4
Follow‐up duration
1‐4 weeks	102	0.23 (0.17‐0.29)	<0.001	65%	14.2	95	0.21 (0.16‐0.26)	<0.001	53%	15.6
5‐12 weeks	76	0.35 (0.27‐0.43)	<0.001	70%	8.9	54	0.34 (0.24‐0.44)	<0.001	74%	9.2
≥13 weeks	3	0.29 (–0.17 to 0.76)	0.214	87%	11.0	1	0.29 (–0.13 to 0.73)	0.180	0%	11.0
Apps vs. active comparisons	8	–0.08 (–0.25 to 0.08)	0.340	0%	‐	6	0.11 (–0.24 to 0.47)	0.537	64%	31.0
Face‐to‐face comparator only	5	–0.12 (–0.35 to 0.09)	0.257	0%	‐	5	0.16 (–0.25 to 0.59)	0.441	65%	20.9
Web‐based comparator only	3	–0.01 (–0.31 to 0.29)	0.962	16%	‐	1	–0.11 (–0.52 to 0.29)	0.575	0%	‐

n – number of comparisons, NNT – number needed to treat