The impact of interventions that integrate accelerometers on physical activity and weight loss: a systematic review
Open accessAbstract
Background Regular physical activity is important for improving and maintaining health, but sedentary behavior is difficult to change.Providing objective, real-time feedback on physical activity with wearable motion-sensing technologies (activity monitors) may be a promising, scalable strategy to increase physical activity or decrease weight.Purpose We synthesized the literature on the use of wearable activity monitors for improving physical activity and weightrelated outcomes and evaluated moderating factors that may have an impact on effectiveness.Methods We searched five databases from January 2000 to January 2015 for peer-reviewed, English-language randomized controlled trials among adults.Random-effects models were used to produce standardized mean differences (SMDs) for physical activity outcomes and mean differences (MDs) for weight outcomes.Heterogeneity was measured with I 2 .Results Fourteen trials (2972 total participants) met eligibility criteria; accelerometers were used in all trials.Twelve trials examined accelerometer interventions for increasing physical activity.A small significant effect was found for increasing physical activity (SMD 0.26; 95 % CI 0.04 to 0.49; I 2 = 64.7 %).Intervention duration was the only moderator found to significantly explain high heterogeneity for physical activity.Eleven t r i a l s e x a m i n e d t h e e ff e c t s o f a c c e l e r o m e t e r interventions on weight.Pooled estimates showed a small significant effect for weight loss (MD -1.65 kg; 95 % CI -3.03 to -0.28;I 2 = 81 %), and no moderators were significant.Conclusions Accelerometers demonstrated small positive effects on physical activity and weight loss.The small sample sizes with moderate to high heterogeneity in the current studies limit the conclusions that may be drawn.Future studies should focus on how best to integrate accelerometers with other strategies to increase physical activity and weight loss.
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For bodyweight, two meta-analyses of consumer activity-tracker interventions reported overall weight loss of -1.5 kg (95% CI -2.81 to -0.14) to -1.7 kg (-3.03 to -0.28), whereas two meta-analyses of pedometer interventions reported weight loss of -0.7 kg (95% CI -1.12 to -0.17) to -1.3 kg (-1.85 to -0.70).
“For bodyweight, two meta-analyses 46,63 of consumer activitytracker interventions reported an overall weight loss of -1•5 kg (95% CI -2•81 to -0•14) to -1•7 kg (-3•03 to -0•28), whereas two meta-analyses 11,61 of pedometer interventions reported weight loss of -0•7 kg (95% CI -1•12 to -0•17) to -1•3 kg (-1•85 to -0•70; appendix p 37).”
From Effectiveness of wearable activity trackers to increase physical activity and improve health: a systematic review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses. (2022) · cites this paper as [46]
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Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThese results are in line with prior reviews on wearables that showed no change in sedentary behaviors and an improvement in PA outcomes and weight loss.
“These results are in line with prior reviews on wearables that showed no change in sedentary behaviors [16], and an improvement in PA outcomes [16-18,28,30-32,35,36,107] and weight loss [28,32,35,108].”
From Fitbit-based interventions for healthy lifestyle outcomes: systematic review and meta-analysis (2020) · cites this paper as [32]
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References 47 · Cited by 80
Research works printed but not linked: 1
- [15]Lefebvre C Manheimer E Glanville J Higgins JPT Green GreenS Chapter 6: Searching for studies Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. Version 5.1.0 (updated March 2011). The Cochrane Collaboration 2011 Accessed July 22, 2014 www.cochrane-handbook.org
- Authors
- Goode, A. P., Hall, K. S., Batch, B. C., Huffman, K. M., Hastings, S. N., Allen, K. D., Shaw, R. J., Kanach, F. A., McDuffie, J. R., Kosinski, A. S., Williams, J. W., & Gierisch, J. M.
- Affiliations
- Duke University (US)
- Durham VA Medical Center (US)
- Corresponding author
- Goode, Adam P.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Annals of Behavioral Medicine
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2016-08-26
- Volume
- 51
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 79-93
- ISSN
- 0742-5554 (ISSN-L)
- 0883-6612
- 1532-4796
- PMC
- PMC5253097
- OpenAlex
- W2508946224
- Cited by
- 80
- References
- 47
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 9 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 0.82
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Annals of Behavioral Medicine (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Office of Research and Development, Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (#09-009; 2015)
- Rehabilitation Research and Development Service, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (US) (2RX001316)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition › Context-Aware Activity Recognition Systems
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
- Keywords
- accelerometer, wearable activity trackers, physical activity, weight loss, sedentary behavior, real-time feedback, behaviour change interventions, moderators
- MeSH terms
- Humans, Weight Loss, Exercise, Accelerometry
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