Health apps have become a popular tool among teens and adults to monitor fitness, weight loss, sleep, and even menstrual cycles. But did you know that mobile health claims can be beneficial for diabetes patients?
A new study has found that using health apps with diabetes patients could improve health outcomes and lower medical costs. The findings of the study will be published in the journal ‘MIS Quarterly’, a publication of the Regulatory Information Systems Research Center.
Emerging mobile or healthcare technologies are changing the way patients monitor information related to diagnosed conditions. This study examined the health and economic impacts of mHealth technologies on the outcomes of diabetic patients in Asia.
The study concluded that, compared to patients who did not use mHealth applications, patients who used the apps had better health outcomes and were able to more effectively manage their health behaviors. They also had fewer hospital visits and lower medical costs.
The study was conducted by researchers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and New York University (NYU). “Given the importance of health behaviors to well-being, health outcomes, and disease processes, mHealth technologies offer great potential for enabling patient lifestyle and behavior change through patient education, improved autonomic self-management, and empowerment. which is seen, “explained Beibei Li, professor of information systems and management at Heinz College at CMU, who co – authored the study.
The relatively new field of Healthcare includes mobile computing, medical sensing, and communication technologies used for health care services (e.g., chronic disease management).
Mobile health applications can operate on smartphones, tablets, sensors, and cloud-based computing systems, all of which collect health data about individuals. The global health market was estimated to have reached 49 billion USD by the end of 2020. But few studies have evaluated the effectiveness of the technology in changing patient behavior and outcomes.
In this study, researchers sought to find out how health claims cause individuals to change their behavior in order to comply with the recommended approaches to achieving specific health goals.
The researchers measured compliance by looking at patients ’detailed activities (e.g. daily walking steps, exercise time, sleep pattern, food intake) as measured by the app, as well as general health outcomes, hospital visits, and medical expenses.
The researchers were in partnership with a leading health company that provides one of the largest mobile health platforms in Asia that specifically cares for diabetes. The study randomly assigned 1,070 adult patients to different groups for three months: Some patients used the mHealth app, some did not, and some used a web-based version of the app. Among the patients in the group who used the mHealth app, some received personal text reminders, while others received non-personal text messages.
Researchers interviewed all participants before the study began and five months after its completion. Questions asked included those about demographics, medication, and medical history, blood glucose and hemoglobin levels, frequency of hospital visits, and medical expenses.
The study found that patients who used the mHealth app lowered their blood glucose and hemoglobin levels, even after controlling for set-up effects at an individual level. Patients who used the app also exercised more, slept more, and ate healthier foods. And they had fewer hospital visits and lower medical costs.
The authors suggested that patient acceptance and use of the mHealth app was associated with significant behavioral changes in diet and healthier lifestyle. In this way, consumers became more autonomous with their health behaviors, and this sexual stimulation helped them become more involved, resilient and consistent in their behaviors, which led to better health outcomes. The health platform also enabled greater use of telemedicine, which in turn reduced hospital visits and medical costs for patients.
The study also found that the mHealth platform was more effective in improving patient health outcomes than the web-based (PC) version of the same app. And non-personal text messages tended to be more effective in altering patient behavior than personalized messages, perhaps because personalized messages are seen as brutal, coercive and disturbing.
Among the limitations of the study, the authors note that this study focused specifically on participants with Type II diabetes who, differently from diabetes. Type I diabetes or Gestational diabetes, directly linked to diet or lifestyle autonomy. Therefore, the research may not be relevant for patients with other types of diabetes.
“Our findings provide important insights into mHealth app design through a better understanding of patient health behaviors and interaction with the platform,” suggested Anindya Ghose, business professor at NYU’s Stern School of Business, who co-authored the study.
Ghose said, “Knowledge like this can be invaluable to mobile healthcare platform designers as well as policymakers to develop smart and connected health infrastructure design through the sustainable use of emerging technologies. the crop. ”