TABLE 2.

Four Key Messages From the AHRQ Review of Mobile Apps for Diabetes Self-Management

1. Although hundreds of apps for diabetes self-management are commercially available, we only identified health outcomes studies on 11 apps.

2. Of the 11 apps, studies showed that only 5 were associated with clinically significant improvements in A1C, an important clinical test for monitoring diabetes (for type 1 diabetes, Glucose Buddy and Diabeo Telesage; for type 2 diabetes, Blue Star, WellTang, and Gather Health)

3. None of the studies showed patient improvements in quality of life, blood pressure, weight, or BMI. More rigorous and longer-term research studies could determine whether apps help people manage their diabetes and reduce complications.

4. The studies had methodological issues. They were short (2–12 months); inconsistent in reporting of randomization, allocation, masking, and dropout analysis; and often used co-interventions that hindered interpretation of results. None of the included studies was considered to be of high quality.