Existing Mobile Phone Apps for Self-Care Management of People With Alzheimer Disease and Related Dementias: Systematic Analysis.
BACKGROUND
Alzheimer disease and related dementias (AD/RD) are progressive neurocognitive disorders that currently affect approximately 50 million people worldwide. Mobile phone apps have been well-integrated into daily lives and can be used to deliver and promote health care. There is an increase in the use of technology to provide care and support to AD/RD patients and their families.


OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to review apps designed for AD/RD patients and analyze the benefits of, and challenges to, such technological solutions.


METHODS
A systematic approach was applied to review the availability, content, features, and quality of mobile phone apps to support self-care among AD/RD patients.


RESULTS
The initial search for this review was conducted in January 2019, and the screening and analysis of the included apps were completed in May 2019. A total of 14 apps were included from an initial search of 245 apps. The top 3 features were alert (9/14, 64%), self-care tips (6/14, 42%), and social networking capacity (5/14, 35%). On average, the readability of the apps was a tenth-grade reading level (SD 3.06). The overall quality was 3.71 out of 5 (SD 1.37).


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings suggest that currently available apps for AD/RD patients may not meet complex needs and may be challenging to use, given the possible impaired communication ability associated with AD/RD. Therefore, high-quality apps need to be developed and rigorously evaluated for feasibility and efficacy.
['Guo|Yuqi|Y|https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7060-8404', 'Yang|Fan|F|https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4250-8446', 'Hu|Fei|F|https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4346-9477', 'Li|Wei|W|https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7530-4872', 'Ruggiano|Nicole|N|https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2398-7077', 'Lee|Hee Yun|HY|https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3499-6304']
mobile phone apps self-care alzheimer disease dementia