Study & Year | Country | Aim | Study design | Population & setting | Intervention/expo-sure | Developer/ manufact-urer | Outcome extracteda |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Boyle, L., et al. (2017) [27] | New Zealand | To establish whether people with diabetes use apps to assist with diabetes self-management and which features are useful or desirable | Cross-sectional design; web based survey | Adults with diabetesb recruited from a secondary care diabetes outpatient clinic; N (with T1D) = 105 | Not applicable | Not applicable | Features, factors affecting use |
Di Bartolo, P., et al. (2017) [28] | Italy | To compare iBGStar + DMApp with a traditional glucose meter in type 1 diabetes adolescents/ young adults | Randomized controlled trial | Type 1 diabetes subjects aged 14–24 years, treated with insulin, HbA1c ≥ 8.0%, and poor SMBG compliance recruited from 21 diabetes clinics; N (Adults) = 81 | iBGStar™ glucose meter (MDR$ class 2) + iBGStar™ Diabetes Manager Application (MDR$ class 1) installed on the iPod touch or iPhone OS was used for 12 months | Sanofi Agamatrix Inc | PROM (AADQoL 19) |
Drion, I., et al. (2015) [29] | Netherlands | To investigate the effects of the DBEES mobile phone diary application, on quality of life for patients with T1DM along with diabetes-related distress, HbA1c, SMBG, and usability of the diabetes application | Randomised controlled trial | Adults aged ≥ 18 years with T1DM, treated with insulin and own a smartphone recruited from a diabetes outpatient clinic; N = 63 | The DBEES smartphone application and a linked personal web portal to enter diabetes-related self-care data used for 3 months | Freshware, Poland | PROMs (RAND 36, PAID) |
Feuerstein-Simon, C., et al. (2018) [30] | USA | To examine the real-world use of a smartphone app, which receives meter readings and logs hypoglycemic symptoms, causes, and treatments to reduce hypoglycemia | Quasi-experimental design; Pilot study | Adults aged ≥ 21 years with T1D & current use of a smartphone recruited at the Joslin Diabetes Centre; N = 22 | Joslin HypoMap™ app powered by Glooko to track hypoglycemic events & symptoms used for 12 weeks | Dr Howard Wolpert and powered by Glooko | PROM (Clarke’s survey) |
Jeon, E., & Park, H. A. (2019) [31] | South Korea | To evaluate a diabetes self-care app by measuring differences in diabetes self-care factors between before and after using the app with the Information-Motivation-Behavioral skills model of Diabetes Self-Care | Quasi-experimental design | Adults aged ≥ 19 years with diabetesb and own an android smartphone recruited through self-help websites for patients with diabetes; N (T1D) = 8 | A research group developed diabetes self-care application used for 4 weeks | Author developed | PROMs (D-SMART, DFBC) |
Kirwan, M., et al. (2013) [32] | Australia | To examine the effectiveness of a freely available smartphone application combined with text-message feedback to improve glycemic control and other diabetes-related outcomes in adult patients with type 1 diabetes | Randomized controlled trial | Adults aged 18–65 years with T1DM > 6 months, HbA1c > 7.5%, treated with insulin and own an iPhone recruited nationwide online; N = 72 | Glucose Buddy, a free diabetes self-management iPhone application used for 9 months and Certified diabetes educator weekly review of data entered for 6 months | Skyhealth LLC | PROMs (DQoL, DES-SF, SDSCA) |
Knight, B. A., et al. (2016) [33] | Australia | The aim of this study was to obtain user feedback on the usability of the RapidCalc app in adults with T1DM towards identifying user preferences and further development of this application | Qualitative focus group interview with thematic analysis | Adults aged 18–65 years with T1DM who were recent graduates of a flexible insulin management education program with HbA1c 7–10%; N = 7 | A locally developed RapidCalc mobile phone app for diabetes self-care and specifically for flexible insulin management used for 1 month | Locally developed and acquired by A. Menarini Diagnostics | Features, factors affecting use |
Mora, P., et al. (2017) [34] | USA | To assess the impact of using the Accu-Chek Connect diabetes management system on treatment satisfaction, diabetes distress, and glycemic control in adults with type 1 diabetes and insulin-treated type 2 diabetes | Quasi-experimental design | Adults aged ≥ 18 years with poorly controlled T1D experienced with Smartphone use recruited from primary care practices and diabetes specialty practices; N = 10 | The Accu-Chek- Connect diabetes management system (MDR$ class 2) used for 6 months | Roche diabetes care | PROMs (DDS, DTSQ) |
Ritholz, M. D., et al. (2019) [35] | USA | To explore qualitatively PWDs’ experiences using the integrated Sugar Sleuth technology to better understand how their experiences affected their diabetes self-management | Qualitative descriptive design, with thematic analysis | Adults aged 25–75 years with T1D ≥ 1 year, treated with insulin and HbA1c 7.5% -9.5% recruited at a diabetes specialty center; N = 10 | The Sugar Sleuth system consisting of FreeStyle Libre, a wearable glucose sensor, and a mobile phone app used for 14 weeks | Abbott diabetes care | Features, factors affecting use |
Skrøvseth, S. O., et al., (2012) [36] | Norway | To explore how self-gathered data could help users improve their blood glucose management | Quasi-experimental design | Adults with T1D attending a university Hospital; N = 30 | The Few Touch Application (FTA) | Norwegian Centre for Integrated Care and Telemedicine (NST) | Factors affecting use |
Tack, C., et al. (2018) [37] | Netherlands | To evaluate a prototype integrated mobile phone diabetes app in people with type 1 diabetes | Quasi-experimental design | Adults 18–65 years, with T1D ≥ 2 years, stable HbA1c 7%-10%, on variable bolus insulin dose and using a smartphone recruited at the outpatient clinics of a university hospital; N = 20 | A prototype of an integrated mobile diabetes app used for 6 weeks | The Radboud University Medical Center, Royal Philips-the Netherlands & Salesforce (USA) | Features, factors affecting use, PROMs (CIDS, PAID, HFS) |
Trawley, S., et al. (2017) [38] | Australia | To investigate the frequency of diabetes specific app use among a sample of adults in Australia with Type 1 or Type 2 Diabetes | Cross sectional survey | Adults aged 18–75 years with T1D recruited via a national level web-based survey; N (T1D) = 795 | Not applicable | Not applicable | Features, factors affecting use |
Zahed, K., et al. (2020) [39] | USA | To understand diabetic patients’ perceptions of hypoglycemic tremors, as well as their user experiences with technology to manage diabetes, and expectations from a self-management tool | Cross sectional survey | Adults aged ≥ 18 years with T1DM recruited via a national level web-based survey; N = 212 | Not applicable | Not applicable | Features |
Årsand, E., et al. (2015) [40] | Norway & Czech republic | To explore the interoperability and usability of a wearable computing device in conjunction with a developed smartphone application, and to evaluate its use in diabetes self-management | Quasi-experimental design; Usability study | Adults with type 1 diabetes recruited from an earlier NST project and affiliates from Motol University Hospital, Prague; N = 6 | A Pebble smartwatch diabetes diary app for self-care data entry & tracking used for 2 weeks | Faculty of Biomedical Engineering, Czech technical University in Prague & NST | Features, factors affecting use |