JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Obesity is an endemic problem with significant health and financial consequences. Text messaging has been shown to be a simple and effective method of facilitating weight reduction. Additionally, waist-to-hip ratio has emerged as a significant anthropometric measure. However, few studies examined the effect of serial anthropometric self-measurement combined with text messaging.

Objective:

The primary aim was to assess whether an eight-week program, consisting of weekly serial self-measurements of waist and hip circumference, combined with motivational text messages, could reduce waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) among Australian workers.

Methods:

This was a community-based, participant-blinded, staggered-entry, parallel group study. Adult workers with access to mobile phones were eligible and recruited through an open access online survey. A balanced, block randomisation was used to assign participants to receive intervention or control messages for eight weeks. Outcome data was self-assessed through an online survey.

Results:

Sixty participants were randomised with 30 participants allocated to each a control and an intervention group. There was no significant change in WHR (P= .43) and all secondary outcome measures did not differ between the intervention group and control group at the end of the eight-week intervention. Both groups, however, showed a significant decrease in burnout over time (mean (SE): pre 4.80 (0.39) vs. post 3.36 (0.46) P=.004). The intervention uptake followed a downward trend. Peak participant replies to weekly self-measurements were received in week three (14/23 (61%)), and the least in week eight (8/23 (35%)). No harms were found to be resulting from this study.

Conclusions:

This study is an innovative pilot trial using text messaging and serial anthropometric measurements in weight management. No change was detected in waist-to-hip ratios in Australian workers over 8 weeks, therefore it was unable to be concluded that the intervention affected the primary outcome. However, these results should be interpreted in the context of limited sample size and decreasing intervention uptake over the course of the study. This pilot trial is useful for informing and contributing to the design of future studies and the growing body of literature on serial self-measurements combined with text messaging. Clinical Trial: The trial is registered at ANZCTR.org.au, number: ACTRN12616001496404.