Research

Adherence

Mobile health (mHealth) interventions, particularly those involving text messaging (SMS) and clinical feedback, significantly improve glycemic control (HbA1c) in patients with type 2 diabetes compared to standard care.

For patients with diabetes, using mobile health tools like SMS reminders or apps to track blood glucose and receive feedback from healthcare providers can lead to modest but clinically meaningful improvements in blood sugar control (HbA1c), especially for those with type 2 diabetes. This approach works best when combined with standard care and lifestyle education, and effects are most evident within the first year of use.

ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
this overview demonstrates that on average, mHealth interventions improve glycemic control (HbA1c) compared to standard care or other non-mHealth approaches by as much as 0.8% for patients with type 2 diabetes... at least in the short-term (≤12 months).
Spyros Kitsiou et al. · PLoS ONE · 2017

Why this rating

The overview synthesizes 15 systematic reviews, but notes considerable methodological limitations and heterogeneity in the underlying studies.

Source

Effectiveness of mHealth interventions for patients with diabetes: An overview of systematic reviews

Spyros Kitsiou et al. · PLoS ONE · 2017

DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0173160

Meta-analysis · 15 studiesCited 432×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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