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 were 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.