TOPLINE:

Mobile health interventions are associated with greater weight loss and improved liver enzyme levels in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD, now known as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease).

METHODOLOGY:

• Mobile health technology, including smartphone apps and wearable devices, may enhance chronic disease management by improving adherence and treatment outcomes through personalized recommendations and real-time feedback.
• Researchers conducted a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials that compared the effects of mobile health-based interventions with control treatments (eg, conventional treatment, no treatment, or placebo) in patients with NAFLD.
• Outcome measures included changes in body weight and levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT).

TAKEAWAY:

• The meta-analysis included 10 trials involving 1489 patients with NAFLD, with 661 in the intervention group and 828 in the control group.
• Weight loss was significantly greater in the mobile health intervention group than in the control group (standardized mean difference [SMD], -1.93; P = .001; nine studies).
• Patients in the intervention group lost an average of 1.4-6.9 kg, whereas those in control group experienced weight changes ranging from a loss of 3.1 kg to a gain of 1.8 kg.
• AST and ALT levels decreased more in the intervention group than in the control group (AST: SMD, -1.27; P = .0007; six studies; ALT: SMD, -1.48; P < .0001; seven studies).
• Interventions lasting 6 months or less had a stronger effect on ALT reduction than those lasting longer than 6 months, based on analyses of eight and two studies, respectively.

IN PRACTICE:

“Mobile technology can strengthen patients’ self-monitoring capabilities and improve behavioral compliance through real-time data tracking (eg, dietary logs, exercise monitoring) and instant feedback mechanisms,” the authors wrote. 

SOURCE:

The study was led by Yanfang Li, Department of Gastroenterology, Affiliated Hangzhou First People’s Hospital, School of Medicine, Westlake University, Hangzhou, China. It was published online in the Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology.

LIMITATIONS:

The meta-analysis included only a small number of studies with notable heterogeneity due to variations in intervention implementation, patient characteristics, and control-group settings. Some studies did not adequately control for confounding factors. The short-term duration of the included trials limited conclusions about long-term effects.

DISCLOSURES:

This study was funded by the Key R&D Program of Zhejiang Province. The authors reported having no competing interests.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.