More and more apps from the health sector

The healthcare industry is launching more and more health applications for the Iphone and Android operating systems

08.07.2011

37 percent of all Internet users occasionally or regularly look for symptoms and diseases on the Internet. The mobile industry is also increasingly relying on the supposed health advice via application, the so-called apps. More and more companies in the healthcare industry offer medical but also naturopathic application programs for the mobile phone or the tablet PC. Just the Apple Corporation reported since the opening of the iTunes "App Store" about 3 years ago, about 15 billion downloads of the mini-programs. A large number of applications also came from the health sector.

Web-savvy people who suffer from one or the other symptom due to their daily sitting posture have certainly already used Google Search to find symptoms or descriptions. Often it is back pain, abdominal pain or headache that animate for self-research on the Web. For some, self-diagnosis becomes an addiction. Even for these people, modern psychology has already found a name: the Cyberchonder, the themselves „sicker google´n than they usually are“.

37 percent of users search for medical topics
According to a representative survey of the high-tech association „Bitkom“ Around 37 percent of Internet users use Google search to find out about illnesses or complaints. Increasingly important is the targeted search for medicines and treatment methods. Especially for people with rare diseases, the Internet is sometimes the only further source to research research results or treatment options. It is therefore hardly surprising that the industry wants to extend its offer to the mobile sector and increasingly offers apps for smartphones.

Health applications for smartphones like the Iphone
The medical app offer is sometimes unaudited content, confusing but quite diverse. Especially rich is the offer in Apple „itunes“ App store. There, for example, applications for a hearing test can be found, application programs to strengthen the back muscles, the general health check and of course a lot of diet programs of different quality. Whether the programs are a good idea, users can only see dare by looking at the experience reports. In fact, there are numerous indications that reports of experience are repeatedly falsified despite backups in order to make them appear in a better light. Whether the medical content in the real world is serious and professional, is therefore not very easy to determine. So far, there is no independent seal of approval that is based on defined standards. "This is similar to what happens on the Internet, and there are no reliable indications that the contents of a homepage are correct," reports app developer Dr. med. Michael Hägele the Hamburger Abendblatt. Hägele is a medical computer scientist and has already programmed a large number of smartphone apps. He himself knows that it is in the industry as well „black spicy“ who are only interested in asking the users for the data. Subsequently, these data are passed on to pharmaceutical companies or other corporations. For this reason, as a user, you should not recklessly enter your most intimate data, especially if you are not convinced of the seriousness of the program. Neither the German Medical Association nor the Action Forum Health Information System (afgis) have made plans to introduce certification. The latter offer at least one seal of quality for operators of health websites.

Naturopaths, doctors and privacy adviser therefore advise caution with the same apps. Above all, these programs should not be used for self-diagnostics to begin unauthorized diagnoses. Allows an app a medical finding as it is the case of measuring the pulse, this falls indeed in the category „Medical Devices“ and is being tested according to EU directives, but its usefulness is far from being clearly established. According to a report by the Gelsenkirchen Institute for Work and Technology, a large part of the apps are called „Lifestyle product“ rated. The program then does not need a CE mark.

In a conversation with the Hamburger Abendblatt, the programmer Hägele emphasizes that apps with control and diagnostic options can only be evaluated as initial information. Only a doctor can perform a full diagnostic and never a program. Also, users should consult with their doctor before use.

Applications are not a substitute for doctor visits
The conclusion to the applications is easy to draw. The apps should by and large be understood as an informative additional offer. Many applications provide useful information and are certainly also helpful in controlling, for example, the pulse during sports activities. Other programs where you can enter complaints, followed by different supposedly „appropriate diseases“ on the other hand, should be used with the utmost caution. Because the medical or therapeutic advice can only be done by a doctor or trained therapist. The personal data should not be entered lightly. In many cases, these are used to deliver countless advertising mail or mails to the user. (Sb)

Image: Harald Wanetschka