Health apps don't really warn of danger on health risks – review

Dec 06, 2016 01:54 PM EST

There are more than 65,000 smartphone applications available today for managing diabetes as developers rush to bring new health-related services to consumer devices, says Eric Dishman, an Intel Fellow and general manager of health strategy and solutions. Intel Free Press story: Is Healthcare the Next Space Race? American healthcare system risks losing competitive edge. (Photo : Wikimedia/Intel Free Press)

Relying on a smartphone app for health issues can be a fatal mistake especially in emergencies, reveals a study.  The study is published on Monday in the journal “Health Affairs.”

Even the apps counted among the top best in quality are also not trustworthy. IMS institute for Healthcare Informatics says that there are currently 165,000 active health apps.

These health apps are in a state worse than ever imagined says Dr. James Madara, chief executive of the American Medical Association, though he was not involved in the study.

The survey did not include step-counting fitness apps. Only 137 apps came under review because they were for serious health conditions like cancer, asthma, heart disease, diabetes, and depression.

The study reveals that some apps are fine but there are issues with them that raise concern.

The doctors entered information that was highly sensitive about the health and the apps – if they accurately count the data – must have drawn warnings but they did not. Only 28 out of 121 apps gave a respond that was suitable for a red-flag health data.

Dr. Karandeep Singh who is leading the study maintained that health apps must have some common-sense principles. The overwhelming majority of apps do not have that sort of response or no response.

The medical privacy is also at stake with the usage of health apps. Patients enter their personal health data into an app and a big amount of information is shared through texts or emails which are highly insecure, maintained researchers.

The apps reviewed were all from Google app store Apple iTunes – the majority of them free.  Each was thoroughly viewed by a doctor and a tech expert. The study details were shared with app companies but were not published, says Fox News.

Dr. Singh expressed his worries and said that companies must improve the privacy and safety measures of their apps. He also urged the patients not to depend on the ratings of an app at the websites as decisions about health are a crucial matter.

Technical problems come in the way of using health apps and accuracy level falls which can impose a threat to a patient in critical condition, according to VT Nutrition.

Health apps need to go through a more precise method of screening and perfecting. They are all about health and inaccuracy can be fatal for many innocent lives.
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