The effect of mobile applications for menstrual cycle or fertility trackers on women's health: protocol for a systematic review

Background Nowadays the use of smartphones and the development of health-related mobile applications has increased worldwide. Menstrual cycle tracking applications (MCTAs) have become especially popular among women because of their practicality in recording menstrual cycles, characteristics of bleeding and prediction of cycle stages. There are various studies regarding the use of MCTAs for different aspects of womens health such as estimating a fertility window for both conception and contraception, help register last menstrual period for calculation of gestational age, record pre-menstrual symptoms, among others. However, effects of MCTAs have not been analyzed in a systematic review. Objective The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of mobile applications for menstrual cycle or fertility trackers on womens health. Methods A systematic review will be conducted, starting with a search in PubMed, CENTRAL and Scopus using search terms related to mobile applications and menstrual or fertility tracking. Only randomized controlled trials will be screened with a sample of child-bearing aged women that use menstrual or fertility tracking mobile applications. Selected studies will be fully analyzed and the results will be recorded on a spread sheet. Study selection and data extraction will be conducted by two reviewers independently and the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool for RCT will be used for assessment of risk of bias. Discrepancies will be reviewed with a third reviewer. Conclusion Currently, there is a lack of information on the effects of using MCTAs on womens health. This systematic review aims to provide an analysis on the outcomes of the usage of these applications and evaluate any potential effects. Keywords Menstrual cycle, mobile application, tracking, womens health Conflicts of interest All authors declare to have no conflicts of interest.