Mhealth Interventions to Increase Physical Activity for Older Adults: A Meta-Analysis of Effectiveness

Objectives: This study aims to assess the effectiveness of mHealth interventions to increase physical activity for the elderly. Methods: A database search was conducted using Cochrane CENTRAL, Medline/PubMed, EMbase, KoreaMed, KMbase, and KISTI (ScienceON), yielding 21 eligible studies. A random-effects model was used to calculate effect sizes by weighted standardized mean differences. Results: This meta-analysis included 21 studies and 1,814 participants. These studies included the following outcome variables: Steps, 6-min walk distance(6MWD), physical activity(PA) that was significantly increased and body mass index(BMI) that was significantly decreased(Steps: g=0.856, p.005; 6MWD: g=0.630, p.05; PA: g=0.177, p.05; BMI: g=-0.351, p.05). Conclusion: For more effective digital health interventions, research on more effective intervention composition-tailored strategies will need to be actively conducted. To continue to develop, new types of health promotional interventions need to be conducted continuously by health experts and economic evaluation.