Analyzing the Effectiveness of mHealth to Manage Diabetes Mellitus Among Adults Over 50: A Systematic Literature Review

PURPOSE: A total of 537 million suffered from diabetes mellitus in 2021, and the aging of the population will not abate this number in the future. Diabetes predisposes people to ailments and doubles the risk of COVID-19 mortality. mHealth has shown promise to help manage diabetes. The aim of this review is to objectively analyze research from the last 2.5 years to assess effectiveness where mHealth has been used as an intervention to help manage diabetes in older patients. We also analyzed patient satisfaction, quality, and barriers to adoption of mHealth to manage diabetes. PATIENTS AND METHODS: No human subjects were involved in this review. We queried four research databases for mHealth to manage diabetes in older adults. We conducted the review based on the Kruse Protocol for writing as systematic review and we reported our findings in accordance with PRISMA (2020). RESULTS: Thirty research articles from 11 countries were analyzed. Five interventions of mHealth were identified. Of these mHealth Short Message service (SMS) helped change behavior and encouraged self-care. mHealth SMS coupled with telemedicine for coaching showed positive effects on weight loss, BMI, diet, exercise, HbA1C, disease awareness, blood pressure, cholesterol, medication adherence, and foot care. CONCLUSION: mHealth SMS coupled with telemedicine for coaching shows the greatest promise for educating, changing behavior, and realizing positive outcomes across a broad spectrum of health factors. The largest drawback is the cost of acquiring equipment and training users.