Role of Social Media in Diabetes Management in the Middle East Region: Systematic Review

Abstract

BackgroundDiabetes is a major health care burden in the Middle East region. Social networking tools can contribute to the management of diabetes with improved educational and care outcomes using these popular tools in the region.ObjectiveThe objective of this review was to evaluate the impact of social networking interventions on the improvement of diabetes management and health outcomes in patients with diabetes in the Middle East.MethodsPeer-reviewed articles from PubMed (1990-2017) and Google Scholar (1990-2017) were identified using various combinations of predefined terms and search criteria. The main inclusion criterion consisted of the use of social networking apps on mobile phones as the primary intervention. Outcomes were grouped according to study design, type of diabetes, category of technological intervention, location, and sample size.ResultsThis review included 5 articles evaluating the use of social media tools in the management of diabetes in the Middle East. In most studies, the acceptance rate for the use of social networking to optimize the management of diabetes was relatively high. Diabetes-specific management tools such as the Saudi Arabia Networking for Aiding Diabetes and Diabetes Intelligent Management System for Iraq systems helped collect patient information and lower hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) levels, respectively.ConclusionsThe reviewed studies demonstrated the potential of social networking tools being adopted in regions in the Middle East to improve the management of diabetes. Future studies consisting of larger sample sizes spanning multiple regions would provide further insight into the use of social media for improving patient outcomes.

Social Media Use in Interventions for Diabetes: Rapid Evidence-Based Review

“…The list of all potentially relevant studies that were read in full-text form but were excluded from the review can be found in Multimedia Appendix 2. Of these publications, 35 met the inclusion criteria [26-60]; of them, 32 were primary studies [26-32,34-38,40-59] and 3 were systematic reviews [33,39,60] (Figure 1). …”

“…Only 1 of the 35 included studies was considered to be of high quality [31]; 19 studies were considered to be of moderate quality: the 3 systematic reviews [33,39,60,61] (Multimedia Appendix 3), all 15 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) [26-30,32,34,35,42,44,45,48,54,55,58], and 1 nonrandomized intervention [40]. The remaining 15 nonrandomized studies were weighted as being of low or very low quality, and therefore, they were removed from the narrative synthesis (these studies are listed in Multimedia Appendix 4).…”

“…On the other hand, 13 RCTs reported significant improvements in HbA 1c values among all the study participants, independently of whether they were allocated to the group where social media was used or not. These studies mostly targeted young people affected with T1D [26,28,30,32,34,35,45,54,60]. Furthermore, another study reported mixed results [58].…”

“…Five publications had comparable findings related to patients’ high satisfaction with the interventions where social media were used or to internet visits being preferred by patients [26,28,30,39,60]. …”

“…Five publications referred to both T1D and T2D patients, and therefore, participants had a broader age range [33,39,40,55,60]. Only one study specifically targeted adults diagnosed with T2D [58].…”