Abstract
Diabetes self-management offers an opportunity to patients to be actively involved in managing their conditions and modifying lifestyle behaviors to attain positive health outcomes. With the unprecedented growth of mobile technology, smartphone plays a role in supporting diabetes self-management. Nonetheless, selecting appropriate mobile applications (apps) is challenging for patients. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate and compare the contents and features of mobile medical apps for diabetes self-management. Of 346 commercial apps, 16 (16%) and 19 (7.72%) of the diabetes apps found in Apple and Google Play stores, respectively, were included based on the selection criteria and individually scored for the availability of 8 main features of diabetes self-management. The apps supported self-management by offering features such as free installation, less than 50 MB space used, offline use, automated data entry, data export and sharing, educational tool, and advice. Of the 8 evaluated features, only 11 (31.4%) apps had a score of 5 whereas 7 (20%) apps scored the lowest, with a score of 3. The majority of apps were free, required no Internet connectivity to use and were less than 50 MB in size. Our findings showed that the design of diabetes mobile apps focused on reporting and setting reminders, rather than providing personalized education or therapeutic support. In the future, the design of apps could be improved to integrate patients’ needs, usability for disease management, and lifestyle modifications.
Highlights
Diabetes mellitus is often referred to as a type of metabolic disease characterized by a prolonged state of high blood glucose levels in which patients present with symptoms of frequent urination, increased thirst, and hunger [1]
The inclusion criteria for the mobile apps were meant to be used for diabetes self-management and have a SMBG, which enables the user to record their blood glucose measurement using the apps
The features least possessed by Apple iOS apps were educational tool for learning about diabetes (12.5%), automated data entry (18.75%), and advice (18.75%)
Summary
Diabetes mellitus is often referred to as a type of metabolic disease characterized by a prolonged state of high blood glucose levels in which patients present with symptoms of frequent urination, increased thirst, and hunger [1]. As reported by the International Diabetes Federation, in 2015, 415 million of the world’s population have diabetes globally. 37% of the population (153 million people) live with diabetes in the Western Pacific Region, which is predicted to increase to 215 million by 2040 [2]. There were up to 3.3 million cases of diabetes in Malaysia in 2015 [2]. Managing patients with chronic diseases is challenging as diabetic patients require knowledge and skills in understanding the needs of medical care, and diabetes self-management is crucial, as part of a patient’s commitment to preventing disease complications [1].
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