While there are more than 165,000 mobile health apps available to consumers, they are still far from being “a fully integrated component of healthcare delivery”, according to a new study by the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics.

The report notes, for one, that there is an overwhelming choice of apps without much in the way of guidance, which limits their usefulness.

“The total number of available health apps is growing rapidly, presenting an intimidating number of choices for consumers, leading some to simply select the most popular app and others to try multiple apps in an effort to determine what is best for them,” it said.

The study also found medical professionals  struggle with limited mechanisms for assessing accuracy, efficacy and appropriateness for their patients.

On the up side, platforms for rating, evaluating and, in some cases, certifying apps are becoming available to providers, enabling them to more confidently prescribe apps as part of disease prevention and treatment schemes.

Developers are increasingly incorporating innovative data collection features linked to sensors and wearables.

During the past two years the percentage of health apps with the capability to connect to social networks increased from 26 per cent to 34 per cent, reflecting the importance of this with regard to consumer engagement.

The report also found that a growing movement is underway to build evidence supporting the value of mobile health apps and the number of clinical trials using mobile apps has more than doubled in the past two years, increasing from 135 to 300.

The research drew on IMS Health’s proprietary AppScript Score database and analysis of 26,864 apps available in the US Apple iTunes and Android app stores.