Weight Loss Mobile Apps: Do They Address COVID-19 and Diabetes

Abstract

Background: Over 70 million Americans are obese and 99 million are overweight. There are over 3.7 billion ehealth mobile app downloads per year. Weight loss apps offer information on exercise and nutrition as well as weight tracking. Obesity is a risk factor for COVID-19 infection, along with diabetes and hypertension. In addition, obesity plays a role in the increased mortality of COVID patients. In March of 2020, the U.S. government, through the Small Business Administration and through the Small Business Innovation Research program, as well as through Facebook and Google, offered individuals and companies money for public education and/or solutions for the COVID-19 epidemic. Thus, are software app developers adding information about COVID-19 for their audience? Specifically, do weight loss apps mention obesity being a risk factor for DM, Hypertension, and COVID-19? Weight loss apps target a young demographic, and for public health purposes, COVID-19 information needs to reach this demographic since obesity can be a risk factor for COVID-19 infection. Purpose: Do weight loss apps provide information about DM, HTN, and COVID-19 during this pandemic era? Methods: Evaluation of the 10 most popular apps in the Apple (iOS) and Google (Android) stores via the search term “weight loss.” Apps were ranked by downloads/star rating respectively for Android and iOS apps. Apple does not provide information about the number of downloads. App inclusion criteria: 1) Free 2) iOS: star ratings greater than 4 (greater than 10K ratings); Android: greater than or equal to 1 Million downloads; App features: DM, HTN, Race, Gender, COVID-19, BMI, Heart Disease, Calorie Count, and Fitness. Results: DM: 0/20, HTN: 0/20, BMI: 19/20, while Race is 0/20; Gender 19/20; COVID-19: 0/20; Calorie Count 11/20; Fitness 13/20. Conclusion: 1) Weight Loss apps have not ventured in the public education realm of risk factors and comorbidities of COVID-19 despite the pandemic in 2020. 2) As physicians, we should continue to educate our patients with weight issues and other risk factors in the era of a worldwide pandemic.