Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: The mobile health (mHealth) technologies use mobiles and also wireless network and devices to offer services for improving health, promoting behavior changes and supporting self-management. The increasing global use of mobile application (app) is widely accepted in managing chronic diseases and especially among people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Aim: The purpose of this study was to identify the impact of the interventions based on mobile apps in physical activity among people with T2DM which included in randomized controlled trials (RCTs).

Methods: The international bibliography was examined to present the impact of the intervention based on mobile app in physical activity among people with T2DM comparing with usual diabetes care. This study is a narrative review and for this purpose the electronic database of PubMed was searched using keywords such as “Type 2 diabetes”, “mobile applications”,“physical activity” in English and Greek language for studies for the past 5 years. The inclusion criteria were all RCTs associated with a comparison of mobile app-based interventions and with usual diabetes care in adults with T2DM. The exclusion criteria were those not being RCTs or those which were study protocols and pilot studies.

Results: A total number of 26 RCTs were reviewed in this study. By using the search terms and by applying the eligibility criteria 6 RCTs were chosen and screened for developing this study and the non-relevant cases of 20 articles were excluded according to exclusion criteria. In the 6 RCTs that were included in the narrative review, 1.005 people participated with T2DM. Finally, these studies had separated the participants to intervention group based on mobile app and control group with usual diabetes care. The intervention group who received the mobile app with physical activity advices had increased their physical exercise and had decreased their hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) compared to the control group with the usual diabetes care. Moreover, changes were observed between these two groups to their biomarkers and anthropometry measures such as weight, waist circumference and body mass index (BMI) in favour of the intervention group.

Conclusion: The usage of mobile apps bridges the gap between the people and the self-management of their diabetes. The findings of this review suggest that the mobile apps used by participants can significantly improve physical activity and help to adopt exercise habits. Furthermore, the new digital health care is possible to lead to a successful outcome in HbA1c levels and more over.