The use of mobile applications to improve health outcomes in Latin America: A bibliometric analysis

Objective: To describe
the existing scientific evidence on mobile health applications in Latin
America.

Methods: Bibliometric study which analyzed scientific articles about mobile
applications for health outcomes, published in peer-reviewed journals which
were indexed in Scopus and LILACS until December 2019. All articles included
had a minimum of one author with a Latin American affiliation. We analyzed the
data with Stata and VOSviewer.

Results: There was a total of 271 articles in this analysis. The scientific
production per year increased from 1 article in 2012 to 18 articles in 2019. Most
mobile health applications were designed for the general population or for
patient use. Almost half of the studies explained
the design process of mobile health applications, 19.6% were quasi-experimental
studies, and 4.4% were randomized clinical trials. Primary care and public health were
the most common medical specialty among mobile health applications (n=42;
15.5%), while elderly care was the most frequent health issue (n=13; 4.8%).

Conclusion: There
has been a progressive increase in scientific publications on mobile health
applications in Latin America since 2012. However, only a few of these mobile
health applications have been tested as an intervention in clinical randomized trials
and covers the health burdens of the region.