Digital technology empowers exercise health management in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of mHealth-based interventions on physical activity and body composition in older adults.

IF 3.4 3区医学 Q2 PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH

Frontiers in Public Health Pub Date : 2025-10-01 eCollection Date: 2025-01-01 DOI:10.3389/fpubh.2025.1661028

Guanbo Wang, Ranran Xiang, Xuemei Yang, Liang Tan

{"title":"Digital technology empowers exercise health management in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis of the effects of mHealth-based interventions on physical activity and body composition in older adults.","authors":"Guanbo Wang, Ranran Xiang, Xuemei Yang, Liang Tan","doi":"10.3389/fpubh.2025.1661028","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Background: Prolonged Sedentary behavior (SB) and lack of Physical Activity (PA) in the older population significantly increase the risk of chronic disease development. The use of mobile health (mHealth) apps may have a positive impact on older adults, helping to increase their physical activity levels and optimize body composition. However, the effectiveness of mHealth-based interventions and potential moderators in this population is not fully understood.Objective: To assess the effectiveness of a mHealth-based intervention in promoting PA/moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), reducing SB, and lowering body mass index (BMI) in older adults. The moderating effects of the mHealth intervention effects were also explored through subgroup analysis.Method: This study searched Embase, PubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane databases (as of June 2025) to include randomized controlled trials (RCT) evaluating the effects of mHealth on PA, MVPA, SB, and BMI in older adults. Standardized mean differences (SMD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using random effects models.Results: A total of 14 RCTs were included (sample size = 2,511). mHealth intervention significantly elevated PA (SMD = 0.18, 95%CI: 0.01 to 0.35) and MVPA (SMD = 0.48, 95%CI: 0.20 to 0.75) and reduced SB (SMD = -0.55, 95% CI: -0.79 to -0.32), but no significant improvement in BMI (SMD = -0.27, 95% CI: -0.79 to 0.25). Subgroup analyses showed that: Commercial applications were better than research-based applications (PA: SMD = 0.18 vs. 0.07; MVPA: SMD = 0.70 vs. 0.31); more than 3 behavior change techniques (BCTs) interventions were effective for MVPA enhancement (SMD = 0.49) and SB reduction (SMD = -0.77); and the use of a theory paradigm intervention was more effective on SB reduction (SMD = -0.77 vs. 0.38).Conclusion: mHealth apps were effective in increasing PA/MVPA levels and reducing SB levels in older adults, but did not reach statistical significance in terms of BMI improvement. Through subgroup analyses, this study further found that commercial apps demonstrated greater strengths in promoting PA/MVPA; meanwhile, integrating more than 3 BCTs synergistically promoted MVPA levels and reduced SB.","PeriodicalId":12548,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Public Health","volume":"13 ","pages":"1661028"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4000,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12521191/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Frontiers in Public Health","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2025.1661028","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/1/1 0:00:00","PubModel":"eCollection","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

Background: Prolonged Sedentary behavior (SB) and lack of Physical Activity (PA) in the older population significantly increase the risk of chronic disease development. The use of mobile health (mHealth) apps may have a positive impact on older adults, helping to increase their physical activity levels and optimize body composition. However, the effectiveness of mHealth-based interventions and potential moderators in this population is not fully understood.

Objective: To assess the effectiveness of a mHealth-based intervention in promoting PA/moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), reducing SB, and lowering body mass index (BMI) in older adults. The moderating effects of the mHealth intervention effects were also explored through subgroup analysis.

Method: This study searched Embase, PubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane databases (as of June 2025) to include randomized controlled trials (RCT) evaluating the effects of mHealth on PA, MVPA, SB, and BMI in older adults. Standardized mean differences (SMD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated using random effects models.

Results: A total of 14 RCTs were included (sample size = 2,511). mHealth intervention significantly elevated PA (SMD = 0.18, 95%CI: 0.01 to 0.35) and MVPA (SMD = 0.48, 95%CI: 0.20 to 0.75) and reduced SB (SMD = -0.55, 95% CI: -0.79 to -0.32), but no significant improvement in BMI (SMD = -0.27, 95% CI: -0.79 to 0.25). Subgroup analyses showed that: Commercial applications were better than research-based applications (PA: SMD = 0.18 vs. 0.07; MVPA: SMD = 0.70 vs. 0.31); more than 3 behavior change techniques (BCTs) interventions were effective for MVPA enhancement (SMD = 0.49) and SB reduction (SMD = -0.77); and the use of a theory paradigm intervention was more effective on SB reduction (SMD = -0.77 vs. 0.38).

Conclusion: mHealth apps were effective in increasing PA/MVPA levels and reducing SB levels in older adults, but did not reach statistical significance in terms of BMI improvement. Through subgroup analyses, this study further found that commercial apps demonstrated greater strengths in promoting PA/MVPA; meanwhile, integrating more than 3 BCTs synergistically promoted MVPA levels and reduced SB.

查看原文本刊更多论文

数字技术增强了老年人的运动健康管理：基于移动健康的干预措施对老年人身体活动和身体成分影响的系统回顾和荟萃分析。

背景：老年人长时间的久坐行为（SB）和缺乏身体活动（PA）会显著增加慢性疾病发展的风险。使用移动健康（mHealth）应用程序可能对老年人产生积极影响，有助于提高他们的身体活动水平和优化身体成分。然而，基于移动健康的干预措施和潜在的调节因素在这一人群中的有效性尚不完全清楚。目的：评估基于移动健康的干预在促进老年人PA/中高强度身体活动（MVPA）、降低SB和降低体重指数（BMI）方面的有效性。通过亚组分析，还探讨了移动医疗干预效果的调节作用。方法：本研究检索了Embase、PubMed、Web of Science和Cochrane数据库（截至2025年6月），包括评估移动健康对老年人PA、MVPA、SB和BMI影响的随机对照试验（RCT）。采用随机效应模型计算标准化平均差（SMD）和95%置信区间（CI）。结果：共纳入14项rct（样本量 = 2,511）。mHealth干预显著提高了PA （SMD = 0.18,95%CI: 0.01 ~ 0.35）和MVPA (SMD = 0.48,95%CI: 0.20 ~ 0.75)，降低了SB (SMD = -0.55,95%CI: -0.79 ~ -0.32)，但BMI没有显著改善（SMD = -0.27,95%CI: -0.79 ~ 0.25）。亚组分析表明：商业应用优于研究应用（PA: SMD = 0.18 vs. 0.07; MVPA: SMD = 0.70 vs. 0.31）；3种以上的行为改变技术（bct）干预对MVPA增强（SMD = 0.49）和SB减少（SMD = -0.77）有效；使用理论范式干预对SB减少更有效（SMD = -0.77 vs. 0.38）。结论：移动健康应用程序在提高老年人PA/MVPA水平和降低SB水平方面有效，但在改善BMI方面没有达到统计学意义。通过亚组分析，本研究进一步发现商业应用在促进PA/MVPA方面表现出更大的优势；同时，整合3个以上的bct可协同提高MVPA水平，降低SB。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Frontiers in Public Health Medicine-Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health

CiteScore

4.80

自引率

7.70%

发文量

4469

审稿时长

14 weeks

期刊介绍： Frontiers in Public Health is a multidisciplinary open-access journal which publishes rigorously peer-reviewed research and is at the forefront of disseminating and communicating scientific knowledge and impactful discoveries to researchers, academics, clinicians, policy makers and the public worldwide. The journal aims at overcoming current fragmentation in research and publication, promoting consistency in pursuing relevant scientific themes, and supporting finding dissemination and translation into practice. Frontiers in Public Health is organized into Specialty Sections that cover different areas of research in the field. Please refer to the author guidelines for details on article types and the submission process.