JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The development of chronic diseases related to poor nutrition increases with age. In the face of an ageing population, it is important for health care sectors to find solutions in delivering health services efficiently and effectively to middle-aged and older adults.

Objective:

The current systematic review aims to consolidate findings from the literature that reported the effectiveness of eHealth and mHealth applications in delivering nutritional interventions for middle-aged and older adults.

Methods:

A literature search from three databases (PubMed, Medline, and CINAHL Complete) from the past five years were conducted. Studies were selected based on those that used eHealth or mHealth as nutritional interventions for adults aged 40 and above, and reported health and behavioural outcomes. Two independent reviewers searched for research articles and assessed the eligibility of studies to be included in the review. A third reviewer resolved disagreements on study inclusion. We also conducted metric analyses and assessed the study quality of the included studies using the CONSORT 2010 checklist.

Results:

26 studies were included for analysis. We found modest evidence for the effectiveness of eHealth and mHealth applications in health outcomes such as HbA1c levels, weight, and Body Mass Index (BMI). Of the 5 studies that observed HbA1c levels, 4/5 (80%) reported improvements. 10/13 (77%) studies reported weight reduction, 7/10 (70%) measured a reduction in BMI, and 4/9 (44%) studies reported positive changes to participant’s dietary behaviour. The most commonly used intervention tool amongst the younger cohorts were mobile applications (n = 13). Furthermore, a majority of the applications (n = 23) consisted of multi-component interventions, such that they provided health interventions for improving nutrition and other health behaviours (e.g., exercise, smoking cessation). The attrition rates reported by the included studies ranged from 0% to 33%.

Conclusions:

We found modest support for the use of eHealth and mHealth as health interventions for middle-aged to older adults. The use of these applications are increasing over the years, and have the potential to deliver health services to a larger group of people. Clinical Trial: NA, as this is not an randomized controlled trial.