Effect of a Mobile Health App on Adherence to Physical Health Treatment: Retrospective Analysis.

Patients chose whether to download the app, so those who were more motivated to adhere to treatment may have been more likely to use it. This self-selection bias means we cannot know if the app caused the improved adherence or if it was already there. The study did not monitor how much patients actually used the app. A patient who downloaded it and never opened it was counted in the same group as a daily user. The analysis was split by year, and 2020 results were heavily influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, which reduced adherence in both groups. The specific effect of the app during a pandemic is unclear. The study did not collect demographic data, so it is unknown if age, gender, or income influenced the decision to use the app or adherence rates. The large sample size made it easier to find statistically significant differences that might be very small in real-world terms.

The study was approved by the Sport and Spine Rehab Clinical Research Foundation institutional review board. The text does not explicitly list financial conflicts of interest or funding sources for the Kanvas app development or the study itself, but the research was conducted within a private practice network (Sport and Spine Rehab).

Do not conclude that the app reduces missed appointments. In the group of patients who quit treatment early, those using the app actually missed more appointments on average than those who did not use the app. The benefit was an increase in total visits kept, not a reduction in no-shows.