Previously submitted to: JMIR mHealth and uHealth (no longer under consideration since Apr 29, 2019)
Date Submitted: Feb 27, 2018
Open Peer Review Period: Feb 28, 2018 - Aug 17, 2018
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Adherence to Diet and Exercise Tracking in the Lose IT Smartphone App
Background:
With increased popularity of weight loss-related smartphone apps, it is vital to explore characteristics of successful and sustained app use. Few studies have assessed characteristics of health app use in a naturalistic context.
Objective:
The goal of the study was to examine demographic and patient goal-related variables and assess their relationship with continued app use and dropout.
Methods:
A random subset of 2,500 users’ data, including age, sex, weight, goal characteristics, and region was extracted from the Lose It user database. These characteristics were measured in terms of association with sustained use (continuous food and exercise days logged), and dropout (failing to log for 30 or more days). Descriptive statistics were calculated for all of the variables and outcome variables were analyzed by a generalized linear model regression with negative binomial distribution or logistic regression.
Results:
Dropout was not common among Lose It users: only 2.9% stopped logging exercise days, and 3.6% stopped logging food days. Male users were more likely to log continuous food and exercise days than female users. Additionally, desire to lose more weight per week was significantly associated with lower continuous days logged. Starting weight, goal weight, and region were not associated with variations in sustained use.
Conclusions:
Knowledge of what factors influence successful, continued use of applications allows developers to utilize these results to create successful applications, and allows consumers to choose realistic plans to help them better achieve their goals.
ClinicalTrial:
Knowledge of what factors influence successful, continued use of applications allows developers to utilize these results to create successful applications, and allows consumers to choose realistic plans to help them better achieve their goals.
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