SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Digit. Health
Sec. Connected Health
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fdgth.2025.1630588
This article is part of the Research TopicHow to Evaluate Digital Health: Novel and Leading Edge Research Methodologies and Approaches.View all articles
The Effectiveness of Digital Health Intervention on Glycemic Control and Physical Activity in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
Provisionally accepted
- 1Xi'an Physical Education University, Xi'an, China
- 2Shanxi Communication University, shanxi, China
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This systematic review and meta-analysis evaluates the effectiveness of digital health interventions (DHIs) on glycemic control and physical activity in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). A total of 118 randomized controlled trials (21,662 participants) were analyzed, covering four DHI categories: mobile applications, phone calls or SMS, online platforms, and remote monitoring. Databases (Web of Science, Embase, Scopus, Cochrane, PubMed) were searched up to February 2025. Data extraction, risk of bias assessment, and meta-analysis (Review Manager 5.3) were conducted following PRISMA guidelines. This review included randomized controlled trials evaluating DHIs for T2DM were included, requiring at least one usual-care control group. Studies involving sporadic digital health engagement or non-English publications were excluded. Notably, DHIs significantly reduced HbA1c (MD = -0.32 to -0.54), FBG (MD = -0.30 to -0.85), and PBG (SMD = -0.58), but showed no improvement in HOMA-IR or physical activity levels (SMD = 0.16, 95% CI -0.08 to 0.39). DHIs demonstrate efficacy in glycemic management for T2DM, particularly in resource-limited settings, yet failed to promote sustained physical activity. This study underscores DHIs' potential in diabetes care while highlighting limitations in behavioral change.
Keywords: type 2 diabetes, physical activity, digital health intervention, glycemic control, Meta-analysis
Received: 18 May 2025; Accepted: 11 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Xue, LIN, Shi, Zhang, Zhang, Liu, Tan and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Yaorong Liu, Xi'an Physical Education University, Xi'an, China
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