Here, we summarise the studies on the use of mobile health technology (m-Health) that were indexed in PubMed in January 2016.
Mobile health technology includes the use of smartphones, telemonitoring, mobile apps and similar online tools and devices to educate patients, caregivers and health professionals about disease, to promote healthy living in the general public, and to provide an interactive platform to aid communication and feedback between individuals and those helping them manage their disease. Although evidence of clinical benefit from such technologies is relatively sparse, there is a growing evidence base on the topic.
In this blog, we are building on previous summaries of the evidence on this topic by reviewing papers indexed in PubMed in January 2016 reporting results of studies evaluating m-Health technologies.
Links to our previous summaries:
July 2015
August 2015
September 2015
October 2015
November 2015
December 2015
Key studies this month:
- A systematic review concluded that text messaging probably improves diabetes self-management, weight loss, physical activity, smoking cessation, adherence to antiretroviral therapy for HIV, but disparate studies mean the best approaches are unclear Hall and colleagues 2015
- A systematic review found that telemedicine interventions reduce mortality and hospitalisation rates in adults with heart failure Kotb and colleagues 2015
- A systematic review found that telemonitoring generally improved quality of life and reduced costs in adults with hypertension Omboni and colleagues 2015
Papers looking at m-Health to promote healthy living in the general public
Population | m-Health technology used | Disease or Problem | Outcome | Clinically important outcome relating to m-Health intervention? | Reference |
General population | Systematic review of Mobile text messaging for health improvement | Multiple | Some evidence of efficacy for diabetes self-management, weight loss, physical activity, smoking cessation, adherence to antiretroviral therapy for HIV | Yes | Hall and colleagues 2015![]() |
Blind running athletes | Mobile electromagnetic guiding system | Visual impairment | Development of a functioning unit is described | No | Pieralisi and colleagures 2015![]() |