Efficacy of Interventions That Incorporate Mobile Apps in Facilitating Weight Loss and Health Behavior Change in the Asian Population: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (Preprint)

Abstract

BACKGROUND Smartphone applications (apps) have shown potential in enhancing weight management in the Western population in the short to medium term. With a rapidly growing obesity burden in the Asian populations, researchers are turning to apps as a service delivery platform to reach a greater target audience to efficiently tackle the problem. OBJECTIVE This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to determine the efficacy of interventions incorporating apps in facilitating weight loss and health behavior change in the Asian population. METHODS Six databases were searched in June 2020. Eligible studies were controlled trials utilizing an app in the intervention in participants aged 18 years or above and from an Asian ethnicity. A meta-analysis to test intervention efficacy, subgroup analyses and post-hoc analyses were conducted to determine the effects of adding app to usual care and study duration. The primary outcome was absolute or percentage weight change while secondary outcomes were changes to lifestyle behaviors. RESULTS A total of 21 studies were included in this review and 17 were selected for the meta-analysis. The pooled effect size across 14 randomized controlled trials for weight change was small to moderate (Hedges’ g = -0.28, 95% CI = -0.44 to -0.12) however, this was not representative of long-term studies (more than a year). Stand-alone app interventions were inefficacious for weight loss but supplementing multi-component usual care with an app led to statistically significant weight change (Hedges’ g = -0.25 95% CI = -0.43 to -0.07). Asian apps were largely culturally adapted and multi-functional, with the most common app features being communication with health professionals and self-monitoring of behaviors and outcomes. CONCLUSIONS More evidence is required to determine the efficacy of apps in the long term and address app non-usage to maximize the potential of the intervention. Future research should determine the efficacy of each component of the multi-component intervention to facilitate study designs that are most effective and cost-efficient for weight management. CLINICALTRIAL PROSPERO REGISTRATION: CRD42020165240.

The Use of Mobile Technologies to Promote Physical Activity and Reduce Sedentary Behaviors in the Middle East and North Africa Region: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Our review found that particularly favorable interventions were those that conducted user needs assessments, considered daily lives and cultural contexts, and had multicomponent approaches. These findings are in line with those of a review focused on the Asian population that found that Asian apps are largely culturally adapted and multifunctional [72]. A few reviews have explored the use of technologies in specific regions, such as low-and middle-income countries or Asia [72,73], which also showed promising evidence of using these technologies for physical activity and other behavior changes.…”

“…These findings are in line with those of a review focused on the Asian population that found that Asian apps are largely culturally adapted and multifunctional [72]. A few reviews have explored the use of technologies in specific regions, such as low-and middle-income countries or Asia [72,73], which also showed promising evidence of using these technologies for physical activity and other behavior changes. One systematic review explored physical activity interventions in only 6 Arabian Gulf countries [32] and did not exclusively examine mobile interventions or explore interventions for sedentariness.…”

Development of “LvL UP 1.0”: a smartphone-based, conversational agent-delivered holistic lifestyle intervention for the prevention of non-communicable diseases and common mental disorders

“…Moreover, while the first version of LvL UP features a fully scalable, self-guided DHI, given the findings from our umbrella review and the recommendations from end-users and mental health supporters in our focus group studies, we intend to introduce dynamic, needs-driven human support. Human support is often demanded by users (161) and has been shown to increase effectiveness and engagement with DHIs (162,163). Introducing human support, however, greatly affects the intervention's scalability and costs, although this might vary depending on the specific modality of human support that is implemented (e.g., expert vs. peer support).…”

Efecto del ejercicio de fuerza y resistencia en hipertensión arterial: revisión de la evidencia disponible

“…La evidencia científica disponible ha demostrado que el incremento en el nivel de actividad física se asocia a una reducción sostenida de la TA tanto en la TA sistólica como en la diastólica y que este cambio ocurre tanto en sujetos sanos como en pacientes con hipertensión (Ang et al, 2021;Rêgo et al, 2019;Whelton et al, 2018). La práctica regular de ejercicio aeróbico de baja y moderada intensidad es la recomendación más frecuente en estos pacientes pues su efecto en la reducción de la TA es bien demostrado (Heberle et al, 2021;Lopes et al, 2020) Por otra parte, la práctica de entrenamiento de fuerza en los pacientes con HA ha sido desaconsejado por los riesgos asociados supuestos.…”