Technological Prospection of Mobile Applications for Women’s Health Monitoring
Gynecological diseases cause physical, psychological, sexual and reproductive impacts on women's health. Studies suggest that lack of access to information and standard care are risk factors that may contribute to the development of gynecological disorders in women's health. Given this context, m-Health systems offer healthcare to patients in a variety of places and at different times. The present study deals with a technological prospection using a systematic methodology. The electronic search was conducted in the following patent banks: World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), European Patent Office (EPO), Google Patents and National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI). Searches in databases using keywords resulted in 402 patents, of which 95 were duplicates. With the withdrawal of the duplicates there were 307 patents remaining. Next, the titles and abstracts of the patents were analyzed, being excluded 179, obeying the exclusion criteria, resulting in 128 patents. In this technology survey, mobile applications related to health in general were presented. No patents for mobile applications related to women's health monitoring were found. Therefore, it was identified the need to develop mobile monitoring applications in this area, to offer patient support, as well as the need to protect the products obtained.