Search

BackgroundMobile health services are thriving in the field of maternal and child health in China due to expansions in the field of electronic health and the introduction of the two-child policy. There are numerous maternal and child health apps in computer stores, but the exact number of apps, number of downloads, and features of these apps is not known. ObjectiveThis study aimed to explore the use of maternal and child health apps in Android and iOS app stores and to describe the key functional features of the most popular apps, with the purpose of providing insight into further research and development of maternal and child health mobile health products. MethodsThe researchers conducted a search in the 3 most popular Android app stores (Tencent MyApp, Baidu Mobile Assistant, and 360 Mobile Assistant) and the iTunes App Store in China. All apps regarding family planning (contraception and preparing for pregnancy), pregnancy and perinatal care, neonatal care and health, and development for children under 6 years were included in the initial analysis. Maternal and child health mobile apps with predominant features of product marketing, children’s songs, animation, or games were excluded from the study. The 50 most frequently used apps in each of the Android stores as well as the iTunes store (a total of 78 deduplicated apps) were selected and downloaded for an in-depth analysis. ResultsA total of 5276 Android apps and 877 iOS apps developed for maternal and child health care were identified. Of the 78 most frequently used apps, 43 (55%) apps focused on one stage of MCH care, mainly targeting child care (25 apps) and before pregnancy care (11 apps), whereas 35 (45%) of the apps covered 2 or more stages, most of which (32 apps) included both pregnancy and child care services. The app features that were commonly adopted by the popular apps were health education, communication, health status self-monitoring, a diary, reminders, and counseling. Within the app feature of “health status self-monitoring,” the researchers found 47 specific tools supporting activities such as pregnancy preparation, fetal heart monitoring, blood glucose and blood pressure monitoring, and doctor visits. A few apps were equipped with external devices (n=3) or sensors. No app with intelligent decision-support features to support disease management for conditions such as gestational diabetes and pregnancy-induced hypertension was found. A small number of apps (n=5) had a Web connection with hospital information systems to support appointment making, payments, hospital service guidance, or checking of laboratory results. ConclusionsThere are thousands of maternal and child health apps in the Chinese market. Child care, pregnancy, and before pregnancy were the mostly covered maternal and child health stages, in that order. Various app features and tools were adopted by maternal and child health apps, but the use of internal or external sensors, intelligent decision support, and tethering with existing hospital information systems was rare and these features need more research and development.

BackgroundThere are differences in executive function between major depressive episode patients with or without psychotic symptoms， and childhood trauma may affect the executive function of patients with major depressive episode. Previous research studies predominantly focused on adult patients with major depressive episode， with a lack of studies specifically focusing on adolescent patients with major depressive episode.ObjectiveTo investigate the differences in executive function among adolescent patients with major depressive episode， with or without psychotic symptoms and childhood trauma.MethodsA total of 112 hospitalized adolescent patients with major depressive episode who met the criteria of the International Classification of Diseases， tenth edition （ICD-10） were included in the study. The participants were recruited from the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry， Shenzhen Kangning Hospital during the period from August 2020 to November 2021. Additionally， 27 healthy controls were recruited through public advertisements. The Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery （CANTAB） was used to assess executive function through the administration of the Motor Screening Task （MOT）， Spatial Working Memory（SWM） and Rapid Visual Information Processing （RVP） modules. Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form （CTQ-SF） was used to assess the trauma type.ResultsCompared with healthy controls， adolescent patients with major depressive episode had a longer mean delay （Z=-3.407， P=0.001） in the MOT task. In the SWM task， the patients had a higher total number of intergroup error responses （Z=-3.291， P=0.001）， a higher total number of intragroup error responses （Z=-3.461， P=0.001）， more total number of double error responses （Z=-3.218， P=0.001）， a higher total error responses （Z=-3.312， P=0.001）， higher strategy scores （Z=-2.437， P=0.015） and longer average delay time （Z=-2.055， P=0.040）. In the RVP task， the patients had fewer hits （Z=-3.196， P=0.001）， more misses （Z=-3.179， P=0.001）， fewer rejections （Z=-2.772， P=0.006）， lower hit probability （Z=-3.187， P=0.001） and lower A´ scores （Z=-3.070， P=0.002）.Compared with adolescent patients with major depressive episode without psychotic symptoms， those with psychotic symptoms had a lower total number of double error responses （Z=-2.566， P=0.010） in SWM task. Compared with adolescent patients with major depressive episode who did not experience emotional neglect， those who experienced emotional neglect had longer average delay time （Z=-3.183， P=0.001） in MOT task， fewer total hits （Z=-2.445， P=0.014）， more total missed reports （Z=-2.467， P=0.014）， lower hit probability （Z=-2.445， P=0.014） and lower A´scores （Z=-2.089， P=0.037） in RVP task. Adolescent patients with major depressive episode who had experienced emotional abuse had longer average delay time in MOT task than those who had not experienced emotional abuse （Z=-2.552， P=0.011）.ConclusionAdolescent patients with major depressive episode exhibit abnormalities in a majority of executive function domains. Specifically， those without psychotic symptoms and with childhood trauma demonstrate significantly impaired executive function. ［Funded by Shenzhen Fund for Guangdong Provincial High-level Clinical Key Specialties （number， SZGS013）， Basic and Applied Basic Research Fund of Guangdong Province （number， 2019A1515110047）， Shenzhen Science and Technology Planning Project （number， JCYJ20190809155019338）］