User data from medical apps routinely shared

An analysis of 24 medicine-related apps — such as those that remind people to take their pills on time — has found that user data are very frequently shared with others. Nineteen of the apps transmitted data from within the app to outside sources, including third-parties that advertised within the app and more than 200 “fourth-parties” who received the data from the third parties. A caveat: The data were collected at a single time point and from a small number of apps, making the scalability of the analysis limited. But since these apps are often used by health care professionals, the authors warn clinicians to be conscious about the recommendations they make to patients on app usage.