Abstract
BackgroundWearable trackers are an increasingly popular tool among healthy adults and are used to facilitate self-monitoring of physical activity.ObjectiveWe aimed to systematically review the effectiveness of wearable trackers for improving physical activity and weight reduction among healthy adults.MethodsThis review used the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) methodology and reporting criteria. English-language randomized controlled trials with more than 20 participants from MEDLINE, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus (2000-2017) were identified. Studies were eligible for inclusion if they reported an intervention group using wearable trackers, reporting steps per day, total moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, activity, physical activity, energy expenditure, and weight reduction.ResultsTwelve eligible studies with a total of 1693 participants met the inclusion criteria. The weighted average age was 40.7 years (95% CI 31.1-50.3), with 64.4% women. The mean intervention duration was 21.4 weeks (95% CI 6.1-36.7). The usage of wearable trackers was associated with increased physical activity (standardized mean difference 0.449, 95% CI 0.10-0.80; P=.01). In the subgroup analyses, however, wearable trackers demonstrated no clear benefit for physical activity or weight reduction.ConclusionsThese data suggest that the use of wearable trackers in healthy adults may be associated with modest short-term increases in physical activity. Further data are required to determine if a sustained benefit is associated with wearable tracker usage.
Highlights
These data suggest that the use of wearable trackers in healthy adults may be associated with modest short-term increases in physical activity
Wearable activity trackers have rapidly emerged in the past decade as consumer devices to support self-monitoring of physical activity [1,2]
The primary purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of wearable trackers and their impact on physical activity levels in healthy adult populations with secondary outcomes of weight change in overweight populations
Summary
Wearable activity trackers have rapidly emerged in the past decade as consumer devices to support self-monitoring of physical activity [1,2]. The use of these devices has increased exponentially, and the global sales of wearables in health care are expected to reach US $4.4 billion in 2019 and US $4.5 billion by 2020 [3]. In the past, structured lifestyle interventions have utilized education with behavior change techniques, provision of written information materials, and telephone counseling in a series of combination and permutation [4,5]. Wearable trackers are an increasingly popular tool among healthy adults and are used to facilitate self-monitoring of physical activity
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