{"id":225568,"date":"2025-11-21T02:04:36","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T08:04:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/uptake-adherence-and-attrition-in-clinical-trials-of-depression-and-anxiety-apps-a-systematic-review-and-meta-analysis"},"modified":"2025-11-21T02:04:36","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T08:04:36","slug":"uptake-adherence-and-attrition-in-clinical-trials-of-depression-and-anxiety-apps-a-systematic-review-and-meta-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/uptake-adherence-and-attrition-in-clinical-trials-of-depression-and-anxiety-apps-a-systematic-review-and-meta-analysis","title":{"rendered":"Uptake, Adherence, and Attrition in Clinical Trials of Depression and Anxiety Apps: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/uptake-adherence-and-attrition-in-clinical-trials-of-depression-and-anxiety-apps-a-systematic-review-and-meta-analysis2.png\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>A meta-analysis of RCTs found high uptake (92%) but moderate adherence (62%) to mental health apps among participants with depression or anxiety; posttest attrition averaged 18% and follow-up attrition 28%. Trials that included reminders, human contact, and omitted gamification saw lower dropout rates.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>Question What are the expected rates of uptake, attrition, and adherence in randomized clinical trials of mental health apps for depression and anxiety?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Findings<\/strong> This systematic review and meta-analysis of 79 randomized trials found high rates of app uptake (94%) and moderate adherence (62%) among participants with depression or anxiety. Posttest attrition averaged 17%, and follow-up attrition was 27%.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Meaning<\/strong> These findings highlight the need to optimize app design and trial protocols to improve engagement and reduce attrition in digital interventions for depression and anxiety.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A meta-analysis of RCTs found high uptake (92%) but moderate adherence (62%) to mental health apps among participants with depression or anxiety; posttest attrition averaged 18% and follow-up attrition 28%. Trials that included reminders, human contact, and omitted gamification saw lower dropout rates. Question What are the expected rates of uptake, attrition, and adherence in [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":662,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-225568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biotech-medical","category-neuroscience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/662"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225568\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}