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Mobile technology led to enhanced short-term weight loss
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Mobile technology has recently come to the forefront of clinical care and patient education. In a study that challenged the addition of a mobile device as a method for enhancing short-term weight loss, researchers examined its promise as a future obesity treatment.
Bonnie Spring, PhD, of the department of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and colleagues wrote that mobile technology has the potential to ease the burden on strained health care systems.
The two-arm, 12-month randomized control trial from 2007 to 2010 examined 69 adults (59 men) with a mean age of 57.7 years and BMI >25 and ≤40. The patients were randomly assigned to a standard-of-care (standard group) or standard and connective mobile technology system (+mobile group). The standard group attended biweekly weight-loss groups at a local VA facility. Personal digital assistants (PDAs) were given to the +mobile group to log physical activity and dietary habits, besides receiving coaching telephone calls for 6 months.
The weight was measured at 3-, 6-, 9- and 12-month follow-up intervals. Baseline data indicate men had a mean weight of 114.3 kg with a mean BMI of 36.3. Similarly, women had a mean baseline weight of 96.3 kg and a mean BMI of 36.4.
The +mobile group lost a mean of 3.9 kg more compared with the standard group at post-baseline follow-up intervals (95% CI, 2.2-5.5), researchers wrote.
Additionally, compared with the standard group, researchers wrote that the +mobile group had significantly greater odds of losing 5% or more of their baseline weight at post-baseline follow-ups (OR=6.5%; 95% CI, 2.5-18.6).
There are still many unanswered questions, according to an accompanying commentary written by Goutham Rao, MD, of the department of family medicine at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, and Katherine Kirley, MD, of North Shore University Health System.
“Spring et al report the value of a PDA-based tool to supplement an intensive group weight loss program. The PDA-based group had significantly greater weight loss at all time points compared with the intensive group weight loss program alone,” Rao and Kirley wrote. “Technology changes so quickly that many tools are obsolete by the time they have been thoroughly studied. Smartphones, for example, have largely replaced PDAs. We need to know what specific features of technology make it successful for weight loss.”
For more information:
Rao G. Arch Intern Med. 2012;doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.1232.
Spring B. Arch Intern Med. 2012;doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.1221.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.