Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1 Health Information Technology Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
2 Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The expansion of pregnancy‑related mobile applications has led to an increase
in the usage of these applications by Iranian women, which has the potential to have a long‑term
impact on women’s pregnancy health and, as a result, community health. The goal of this research
was to investigate the state of pregnancy‑related mobile applications in Iran.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a descriptive‑applied research approach which was
conducted in 2020. One hundred and fifty‑seven pregnancy apps from different Iranian mobile app
markets were installed and were examined in terms of the resources used and their validity, subject
distribution, participation of obstetricians in the app development, apps volume, rank acquired by
users and distribution of apps according to the developers. The relationship between the number of
resources used and user rankings was also tested.
RESULTS: A total of 157 apps were categorized into 12 subject categories based on their content.
Only 1.3% of the apps were developed with the participation of obstetricians. Only 5% of the apps
had used reliable information resources. Furthermore, the number of resources referenced in the
studied apps did not have a significant relationship with star ratings (r = 0.03, P = 0.64), according
to the Pearson correlation test.
CONCLUSION: Iranian mobile applications in the field of pregnancy have grown significantly in
terms of quantity, subject diversity, and user acceptance; however, the credibility of the information
in these apps cannot be validated. This serves as a reminder to users to exercise caution while
using such apps.
Keywords
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