Obesity is a chronic disease resulting from continuous positive energy balance. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) more than one-third of US adults have obesity [1]. In 2014, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that over 600 million individuals suffered obesity. Overall, about 13% of the world's adult population (11% of men and 15% of women) had obesity in 2014 [2]. If this pattern continues, it is estimated that 573 million individuals will suffer this chronic disease by 2030 [3]. Also more than 36 million die annually from non-communicable diseases, like cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes [4]; evidence has shown that obesity is associated with the development of all of these diseases. Accordingly, the prevention and treatment of obesity are necessarily urgent. While the massive growth of information and communication technology (ICT) has contributed to more sedentary lifestyles and weight gain, interestingly, these new technologies, inexpensive and portable nature, are becoming more and more useful in the fight against the obesity epidemic.The purpose of this brief review is to evaluate the scientific evidence supporting the usefulness of information and communication technology in the management of obesity in clinical practice.
Information and Communication Technology / E-HealthThe term electronic health "e-Health" did not start to be used in the literature until 1999, [5] and was originally defined as an emerging field at the intersection of medical informatics, public health, and business; basically, health services and information, delivered or enhanced through the Internet and related technologies.
Eysenbach [6] established 'The 10 e's in e-Health': efficiency, enhancing quality, evidence based, empowerment, encouragement, education, enabling, extending, ethics and equity [5]. For other authors, e-Health was considered as a large variety of medical informatics applications for facilitating the management and delivery of health care, including the spread of health-related information, storage and exchange of clinical data, inter-professional communication, computer-based support, patient-provider interaction, education, health service management, health communities, and telemedicine among other functions.At the present time, e-Health characterizes a state-of-mind, a way of thinking, an attitude, and a commitment for networked, global thinking, to improve health care locally, regionally, and worldwide by using information and communication technology. Telemedicine is considered a key element of the full context of e-Health [5] as defined by the American Telemedicine Association (ATA); however, when researchers describe their work, telemedicine is more specific than the generic term e-Health that is a common name for all health technological fields [7].In the last few years, several e-Health elements have already been incorporated gradually into clinical practice, especially in developed countries, like clinical decision suppor...