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Efficacy of Mobile Apps to Support the Care of Patients With Diabetes Mellitus: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Diabetes Mellitus (DM) is a chronic disease that is considered a global public health problem. Education and self-monitoring by diabetic patients help to optimize and make possible a satisfactory metabolic control enabling improved management and reduced morbidity and mortality. The global growth in the use of mobile phones makes them a powerful platform to help provide tailored health, delivered conveniently to patients through health apps. OBJECTIVE: The aim of our study was to evaluate the efficacy of mobile apps through a systematic review and meta-analysis to assist DM patients in treatment. METHODS: We conducted searches in the electronic databases MEDLINE (Pubmed), Cochrane Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), and LILACS (Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences Literature), including manual search in references of publications that included systematic reviews, specialized journals, and gray literature. We considered eligible randomized controlled trials (RCTs) conducted after 2008 with participants of all ages, patients with DM, and users of apps to help manage the disease. The meta-analysis of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) was performed in Review Manager software version 5.3. RESULTS: The literature search identified 1236 publications. Of these, 13 studies were included that evaluated 1263 patients. In 6 RCTs, there were a statistical significant reduction (P<.05) of HbA1c at the end of studies in the intervention group. The HbA1c data were evaluated by meta-analysis with the following results (mean difference, MD -0.44; CI: -0.59 to -0.29; P<.001; I²=32%).The evaluation favored the treatment in patients who used apps without significant heterogeneity. CONCLUSIONS: The use of apps by diabetic patients could help improve the control of HbA1c. In addition, the apps seem to strengthen the perception of self-care by contributing better information and health education to patients. Patients also become more self-confident to deal with their diabetes, mainly by reducing their fear of not knowing how to deal with potential hypoglycemic episodes that may occur.
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“Despite this, the majority of mobile applications for the management of T2D focus solely on the measurement and control of blood glucose or in combination with diet, blood pressure control and weight or physical activity in a way that is not very detailed [35,36].”
From Impact of a primary care-based mobile health intervention to ‘sit less and move more’ on HbA1c, blood pressure, and other clinical outcomes in office employees with type 2 diabetes: A randomized controlled trial (2025) · cites this paper as [35]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Bonoto, B. C., de Araújo, V. E., Godói, I. P., de Lemos, L. L. P., Godman, B., Bennie, M., Diniz, L. M., & Junior, A. A. G.
- Affiliations
- Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (BR)
- Karolinska University Hospital (SE)
- University of Strathclyde (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Bonoto, Bráulio Cezar
- ORCID
- Venue
- JMIR mhealth and uhealth
- Publisher
- JMIR Publications Inc.
- Published
- 2017-03-01
- Volume
- 5
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- e4
- ISSN
- 2291-5222 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5352856
- OpenAlex
- W2592184816
- Cited by
- 294
- References
- 53
- Citations by year
- 2026: 19 · 2025: 34 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 32 · 2022: 35 · 2021: 39 · 2020: 33 · 2019: 40 · 2018: 28 · 2017: 10
- FWCI
- 5.35
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- JMIR mhealth and uhealth (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Strathprints: The University of Strathclyde institutional repository (University of Strathclyde) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Academy of Medical Sciences (AMS-NAF1-GuerraJunior)
- Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
- Medical Research Council (MR/K007017/1)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism › Diabetes Management and Education
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Information Systems › Mobile Learning in Education
- Keywords
- diabetes mellitus, mobile health apps, HbA1c, glycemic control, diabetes self-management, patient education, hypoglycemia, diabetes self-care
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