5:15 AM
Mr. Alex
According to the mHealth App Developer Economics 2014 report, there are now 100,000 apps dedicated to mobile health, a number that has doubled over the last two years. This study shows the global health and fitness mobile app market is worth about $4 billion, but is poised to increase to $26 billion by 2017.
According to figures from the Google Play Store, diet tracking app MyFitnessPal was the most downloaded application under the health and fitness category this year. Runners-up included Google Fit, Apple’s Health app, and Microsoft Health.
The growth of electronic health records is also fueling the expansion of mobile health technology.
According to a Harris poll of 2,045 adults conducted earlier this year, the number of patients with online access to their records has almost doubled over the past three years, growing from 26 percent in 2011 to 50 percent in 2014. Some 75 percent of respondents reviewed test results online, making it the most popular use of electronic health records. Scheduling appointments online was done by 64 percent of patients, while submitting medication refill requests was performed by 59 percent, according to the Harris pollsters.
It’s not just the U.S., however, which is seeing growth in mobile health tech.
“Demand for mobile-based diagnostic tools is growing from urban Mexico to rural Botswana to American homes,” June Sugiyama, director of Vodafone Americas Foundation told FoxNews.com. “The strategic use of mobile data, the range of diseases being targeted via mobile device, the approach by which they’re being piloted, and how they’re being brought to market is rapidly advancing.”
Sugiyama predicts “exponential growth of mobile-enabled diagnostic/screening tools,” next year, including mobile phones used as a screening tool for cervical cancer and an attachment for imaging of the retina to provide early detection of diabetic retinopathy, the planet’s primary cause of blindness.
As part of this trend, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) awarded a five-year $3-million grant to Cornell University researchers earlier this year to expand the deployment of mobile technologies that can be used to provide healthcare in remote areas that would otherwise be underserved.
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