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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Aug 7, 2020; 26(29): 4182-4197
Published online Aug 7, 2020. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v26.i29.4182
Impact of mobile health and medical applications on clinical practice in gastroenterology
Sven Kernebeck, Theresa S Busse, Maximilian D Böttcher, Jürgen Weitz, Jan Ehlers, Ulrich Bork
Sven Kernebeck, Theresa S Busse, Jan Ehlers, Didactics and Educational Research in Health Science, Faculty of Health, Witten/Herdecke University, Witten 58455, Germany
Maximilian D Böttcher, Jürgen Weitz, Ulrich Bork, Department of GI-, Thoracic- and Vascular Surgery, Dresden Technical University, University Hospital Dresden, Dresden 01307, Germany
Author contributions: Kernebeck S and Bork U did the conception and the design of the manuscript; Kernebeck S wrote the original draft; Busse TS was involved in the writing review and editing of the manuscript; Kernebeck S, Busse TS, Bork U, Ehlers J, Weitz J and Boettcher MD made critical revisions of the manuscript; All authors approved the final version of the article to be published.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare no conflict-of- interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ulrich Bork, MD, Attending Doctor, Department of GI-, Thoracic- and Vascular Surgery, University of Dresden, Fetscherstr. 74, Dresden 01307, Germany. ulrich.bork@uniklinikum-dresden.de
Received: March 31, 2020
Peer-review started: March 31, 2020
First decision: April 25, 2020
Revised: June 9, 2020
Accepted: July 23, 2020
Article in press: July 23, 2020
Published online: August 7, 2020
Abstract

Mobile health apps (MHAs) and medical apps (MAs) are becoming increasingly popular as digital interventions in a wide range of health-related applications in almost all sectors of healthcare. The surge in demand for digital medical solutions has been accelerated by the need for new diagnostic and therapeutic methods in the current coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. This also applies to clinical practice in gastroenterology, which has, in many respects, undergone a recent digital transformation with numerous consequences that will impact patients and health care professionals in the near future. MHAs and MAs are considered to have great potential, especially for chronic diseases, as they can support the self-management of patients in many ways. Despite the great potential associated with the application of MHAs and MAs in gastroenterology and health care in general, there are numerous challenges to be met in the future, including both the ethical and legal aspects of applying this technology. The aim of this article is to provide an overview of the current status of MHA and MA use in the field of gastroenterology, describe the future perspectives in this field and point out some of the challenges that need to be addressed.

Keywords: Mobile health, Health applications, Medical applications, Technology, Telemedicine, Mobile applications, Smartphone, eHealth, mHealth, Digital biomarker, Electronic health records

Core tip: Mobile health apps (MHAs) and medical apps (MAs) are becoming popular as digital interventions in a wide range of health-related applications. This also applies to clinical practice in gastroenterology, which will be undergoing a digital transformation in the near future. The aim of this article is to provide an overview of the current status of MHA and MA use in the field of gastroenterology, describe the future perspectives in this field and point out some of the challenges that need to be addressed. Implications of EHR, telemedicine, smartphone apps and digital biomarkers in clinical care will be discussed.