Abstract
BackgroundPain is the most common and distressing symptom for patients in all clinical settings. The dearth of health informatics tools to support acute and chronic pain management may be contributing to the chronic pain and opioid abuse crises. The purpose of this study is to qualitatively evaluate the content and functionality of mobile pain management apps.MethodsThe Apple App Store and the Google Play Store were searched to identify pain management apps. The inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) that apps include a pain diary function allowing users to record pain episodes, (2) are available in either Apple App Store or Google Play Store, and (3) are available in the English language. We excluded apps if they were limited to only specific forms of pain or specific diseases.ResultsA total of 36 apps met the inclusion criteria. Most of the apps served as pain diary tools to record the key characteristics of pain. The pain diary features of the apps were grouped into nine categories: the recordings of pain intensity, pain location, pain quality, pain’s impacts on daily life, other features of pain, other related symptoms, medication, patients’ habits and basic information, and other miscellaneous functions. The apps displayed various problems in use. The problem of not involving healthcare professionals in app development has not been resolved. Approximately 31% of apps including a pain diary function engaged clinicians in app development. Only 19% involved end-users in development and then only in an ad-hoc way. Only one third of the apps supported the cross-platforms, none of the apps supported clinician access to graphical pain data visualization, none secured HIPAA compliance, and none endorsed the PEG tool for primary care physicians’ chronic pain management.ConclusionsMost of the 36 pain management apps demonstrated various problems including user interface and security. Many apps lacked clinician and end-user involvement in app development impacting the clinical utility of these apps. We could not find any pain apps suitable for clinical usage despite high demand from clinicians due to the US opioid crisis.
Highlights
Pain is the most common and distressing symptom for patients in all clinical settings
The aim of this study is to provide a descriptive evaluation of the clinical features available in pain management apps with a pain diary function and their various characteristics, and to identify apps that meet the requirements for clinical usage
We will discuss the apps from the viewpoint of app problems, involvement of healthcare professionals (HCP) and patients in app development, and the clinical usage of pain management apps based on our descriptive evaluation of the pain management apps as well as limitations of the study
Summary
Pain is the most common and distressing symptom for patients in all clinical settings. The dearth of health informatics tools to support acute and chronic pain management may be contributing to the chronic pain and opioid abuse crises. Rudd and colleagues reported a continuous increase in deaths from prescription opioid abuse and overdose in the United States for the years 2000–2015, and a recent sharp increase in illicit opioid overdose driven mainly by heroin and synthetic fentanyl [9]. These two increases are interconnected and drive the opioid abuse crisis in the US [9]
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