Abstract
BackgroundTo date, it is unclear if consumer wearable activity trackers (CWATs), with or without behaviour multi-component strategies, effectively improve adherence to physical activity and health outcomes under free living conditions in populations with chronic diseases. Therefore, we systematically evaluated the efficacy of CWAT-based interventions to promote physical activity levels and cardiometabolic health in populations with chronic diseases.MethodsRandomised controlled trials were collected from five bibliographic databases (PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials and CINAHL). Studies were eligible for inclusion if they evaluated a CWAT-based counselling intervention versus control intervention among patients with chronic respiratory diseases, type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular diseases, overweight/obesity, cognitive disorders, or sedentary older adults. Data were pooled using a random-effects model.ResultsAfter deduplication 8147 were identified of which 35 studies met inclusion criteria (chronic respiratory diseases: 7, type 2 diabetes mellitus: 12, cardiovascular diseases: 6, overweight/obesity: 3, cognitive disorders: 1, sedentary older adults: 6). Compared to control groups, CWAT-based interventions significantly increased physical activity by 2123 steps per day (95% confidence interval [CI], [1605–2641]; p < 0.001). In addition, CWAT-based interventions in these populations significantly decreased systolic blood pressure (− 3.79 mm Hg; 95% CI: [− 4.53, − 3.04] mm Hg; p < 0.001), waist circumference (− 0.99 cm; 95% CI: [− 1.48, − 0.50] cm; p < 0.001) and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration (− 5.70 mg/dl; 95% CI: [− 9.24, − 2.15] mg/dl; p = 0.002).ConclusionCWAT-based interventions increase physical activity and have beneficial effects on important health-related outcomes such as systolic blood pressure, waist circumference and LDL cholesterol concentration in patients with chronic diseases.
Highlights
Chronic diseases such as chronic respiratory diseases, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and cognitive disorders are an important public health concern worldwide [1]
The included studies consisted of populations with various chronic diseases including chronic respiratory diseases (n = 7) [32,33,34,35,36,37,38], impaired glucose tolerance or T2DM (n = 12) [39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50], CVD (n = 6) [51,52,53,54,55,56], overweight/obesity (n = 3) [57,58,59], cognitive disorders (n = 1) [60] and sedentary older adults (n = 6) [61,62,63,64,65]
This review systematically evaluated the efficacy of Consumer wearable activity tracker (CWAT)-based interventions to promote physical activity levels and improve cardiometabolic health in sedentary older adults and patients with chronic diseases, including chronic respiratory diseases, T2DM, CVD, overweight/ obesity and cognitive disorders
Summary
Chronic diseases such as chronic respiratory diseases, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and cognitive disorders are an important public health concern worldwide [1]. Given the important role of physical activity in the prevention and management of chronic diseases, it is crucial to promote physical activity. Very poor long-term compliance to adequate physical activity and a healthy lifestyle appears to be one of the main factors explaining this discrepancy. To date, it is unclear if consumer wearable activity trackers (CWATs), with or without behaviour multicomponent strategies, effectively improve adherence to physical activity and health outcomes under free living conditions in populations with chronic diseases. We systematically evaluated the efficacy of CWAT-based interventions to promote physical activity levels and cardiometabolic health in populations with chronic diseases
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