Table 2.
Research app characteristics.
| Author | App name | Sample size (age) | Experiment (participant sample size) | Platforma (private or public) | App purpose (direct or indirect) | Intervention period | Major outcome indices |
| Daly et al [38] | PhysiApp-patient portal | 20 (>65 years) | App (20) | Android (public) | Remotely delivers and monitors an individually tailored, home-based multicomponent exercise program (indirectb) | 8 weeks | Feasibility, usability, physical activity enjoyment, changes in lower extremity function, and level of physical activity |
| Bhatia et al [44] | Manage My Pain | 246 (mean age 57, SD 15 years) | App (111); no app (135) | Android and iOS (public) | Measures and monitors pain, function, and medication use (indirect) | 92-183 days | Anxiety, depression, pain catastrophizing, satisfaction, daily opioid consumption, engagement |
| Cairo et al [59] | Vida app | 127 (>18 years) | App (66); no app (61) | Android and iOS (public) | Improves wellness outcomes for survivors of breast cancer (indirect) | 6 months | Physical activity, diary patterns, fatigue, and depression improvement |
| Hauser-Ulrich et al [53] | SELMA-Chatbot | 102 (mean age 43.7 years) | App (59); no app (43) | Android and iOS | Promotes self-management of chronic pain (indirect) | 12 weeks | Pain-related impairment, intention to change behavior, and pain intensity |
| Suso-Ribera et al [51] | Pain Monitor | 87 | App (43); no app (44) | N/Ac (private) | Improves existent medical treatments for patients with chronic musculoskeletal pain (indirect) | 4 weeks | Pain severity and interference, fatigue, depressed mood, anxiety, and anger |
| Licciardone et al [36] | N/A | 102 (mean age 51 years) | App (52); no app (50) | N/A | Self-management of health‐related quality of life (indirect) | 3 months | Change in the SPADEd cluster score, changes in low back pain intensity, and back‐related disability |
| Geerds et al [35] | N/A | 24 (older adults >60 years) | App (24); no app (24) | N/A (private) | Monitors postoperative functional outcome after hip fracture (indirect) | 12 and 18 weeks after surgery | Usability |
| Bailey et al [47] | Hinge Health app | 10,264 (mean age 43.6 years) | App (10,264) | N/A (private) | Provides education, sensor-guided exercise therapy, and behavioral health support with one-on-one remote health coaching (indirect) | 12 weeks | Pain measured by the Visual Analog Scale, engagement levels, program completion, program satisfaction, condition-specific pain measures, depression, anxiety, and work productivity |
| Ryan et al [48] | Striving app, Boning up | 290 (40-60 years) | App (84); e-book (84); no app (84) | Android and iOS (private) | Provides information and feedback and monitors behavior change (directe) | 12 months | Bone mineral density and trabecular bone scores |
| Papi et al [32] | Nymbl | 35 (≥55 years) | App (35) | N/A (private) | Trains balance in the older population (indirect) | 3 weeks for all, with optional follow-up for 3 weeks | Physical activity level and adherence and IPAQf questionnaire |
| Sandal et al [45] | selfBack | 51 (mean age 45.5, SD 15.0 years) | App (51) | N/A (private) | Improves self-management of low back pain (indirect) | 6 weeks | Pain-related disability (RMDQg) and multiple self-reported outcomes |
| Urena et al [33] | m-SFT | 7 (53-61 years); the system usability was evaluated by 34 health experts (mean age 36.64 years) | App (7) | Android (private) | Easy-to-use tool for a health practitioner to record and assess the physical condition of older adults (indirect) | N/A | Usability questionnaire |
| Li et al [49] | Caspar Health App or Website | 31 (≥60 years) | App (15); no app (16) | Android and iOS (public) | Postfracture telerehabilitation (direct) | 3 weeks | Motor performance, functional performance, and fall efficacy; degree of independence in ADLh performance |
| Kim et al [40] | Fracture Liaison Service | 60 (>60 years) | App (60) | Android and iOS (public) | Fall prediction and monitoring (direct) | N/A | Usability |
| Amorim et al [37] | Fitbit (activity tracker) and IMPACT app | 68 (mean age 58.4, SD 13.4 years) | App (34); no app (34) | Android and iOS (public) | Reduces care seeking, pain, and disability in patients with chronic low back pain after treatment discharge (indirect) | 15 months | Care seeking, pain levels, and activity limitation |
| Subasinghe et al [57] | Tap4Bone: MyFitnessPal, Nike Training Club, and QuitBuddy | 35 (mean age 23.1 years) | App (18); no app (17) | Android and iOS (public) | MyFitnessPal is a free calorie counter app that helps people track their diet and exercise; Nike Training Club is a free app comprising >100 full-body workouts; QuitBuddy is a smoking cessation internet-based app (indirect) | 9 weeks | Feasibility and compliance |
| Arkkukangas et al [34] | OEP app | 12 (70-83 years) | App (12) | N/A (private) | Fall prevention (indirect) | 6 weeks | Questionnaire and behavior change |
| Shebib et al [50] | DCP with sensors | 177 (mean age 43, SD 11 years) | App (113); no app (64) | N/A (private) | Aids self-management by engaging patients, and scales personalized therapy for patient-specific needs (indirect) | 12 weeks | ODIi, Korff Pain, and Korff disability |
| Bedson et al [39] | Keele pain recorder | 21 (>18 years) | App (21) | Android (public) | Records pain levels, interference, sleep disturbance, analgesic use, mood, and side effects (indirect) | 28 days | Usability and acceptability |
| Hou et al [55] | eHealth | 168 (18-64 years) | app (84); no app (84) | N/A (private) | Telerehabilitation and self-management interventions (indirect) | 3, 6, and 12 months | Disease-specific questionnaire (ODI), Visual Analog Scale to record back pain, measures of mental health and life status, which included the EuroQol 5-Dimension health questionnaire |
| Saran et al [46] | N/A | 927 (20-80 years) | App (927) | N/A (private) | Monitors physical activity (indirect) | 1 week | Home physical activity |
| Chhabra et al [54] | Snapcare | 93 mean) age 41.4, SD 14.2 years) | App (45); no app (48) | Android (private) | Monitors patient’s daily activity levels and symptomatic profile (indirect) | 12 weeks | Pain and disability |
| Jakobsen et al [31] | My Osteoporosis Journey | 18 (50-65 years) | App (18) | Android and iOS (private) | Provides information and usability questionnaires (direct) | 12 weeks | Satisfaction with the app and risk calculation |
| Lambert et al [56] | PhysiotherapyExercises | 80 (34-59 years) | App (40); no app (40) | N/A (private) | Home exercise programs (indirect) | 4 weeks | Self-reported exercise adherence, The Patient-Specific Functional Scale, degree of disability, and patient satisfaction with health care service |
| Rasche et al [43] | Aachen fall prevention app | 79 (>50 years) | App (79) | Android and iOS (private) | Self-assessment of older patients at risk for ground-level falls (indirect) | 1 year | Objective fall risk and the self-assessed subjective fall risk |
| Park et al [52] | Strong bone, Fit body | 82 (<25 years; women) | App (36); no app (38) | Android (private) | Provides feedback and records activity and nutrition (direct) | 20 weeks | Bone mineral density, minerals, biochemical markers, food intake diary, knowledge, health belief, and self-efficacy |
| Tay et al [41] | Calci-app | 40 (18-25 years) | App (40) | Android and iOS (private) | Usability questionnaires (direct) | 5 days | Dietary calcium intake |
| Goodman et al [58] | VDC-app | 109 (18-25 years) | App (59) | iOS (private) | Provides information and feedback and monitors behavior change (direct) | 12 weeks | Vitamin D intake, knowledge, perceptions of vitamin D, blood concentrations of 25(OH)D3 |
| Singler et al [42] | AOTrauma’s orthogeriatrics | 920 (health professionals) | App (920) | Android and iOS (public) | Delivers the app to surgeons, trainees, and other health care professionals to measure use and evaluate the impact on patient care (direct) | Web-based one-time evaluation | Rating of app and usability |
aApp is available to the public in app stores, or app is not available to the public in app stores.
bThe study has an indirect relation to osteoporosis.
cN/A: not applicable.
dSPADE: sleep disturbance, pain, anxiety, depression, and low energy or fatigue.
eThe study or app has a direct relation to osteoporosis.
fIPAQ: International Physical Activity Questionnaire.
gRMDQ: Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire.
hADL: activities of daily living.
iODI: Oswestry Disability Index.