Table 3.
Physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB) interventions effects were reported in non-controlled trials.
| mHealth Only Intervention | ||||||
| First Author, Year | mHealth Intervention | Effects | Risk of Bias | |||
| PA | SB | Results Summary | ||||
| Cheong, 2018 [59] | Activity tracker with an app providing exercise program |
No significant effect Total metabolic equivalent (METs/w) S |
Not applicable | No significant change pre to post-intervention in an outcome | High * (?,?,?,?,?,?,+) |
|
| Kim, 2020 [60] | Activity tracker with app prescribing exercise program |
Significant effect Total metabolic equivalent (METs/w) S |
Not applicable | Significant increase of METs pre to post-intervention | No information * (NI,?,+,+,?,?,+) |
|
| Lozano-Lozano, 2019 [67] | App to monitor and provide feedback on health behaviors |
Significant effect MVPA weekday (min/d) O No significant effect MVPA weekend, MVPA global (min/d) O Steps weekday, steps weekend, steps global (steps/d) O |
Not applicable | Significant increase of MVPA weekday pre to post-intervention | No information * (NI,?,+,+,+,?,+) |
|
| Puszkiewicz, 2016 [68] | App to provide PA program |
Significant effect Strenuous PA, mild PA (min/w)S No significant effect Moderate PA (min/w) S |
Not applicable | Significant increase in strenuous PA and a significant decrease in mild PA pre to post-intervention | High * (?,?,+,+,+,?,+) |
|
| mHealth and multicomponent intervention | ||||||
| First Author, Year | mHealth intervention | Non-mHealth Intervention | Effects | Risk of Bias | ||
| PA | SB | Results Summary | ||||
| mHealth without personal contact intervention | ||||||
| Le, 2017 [41] | Motivational activity tracker to record PA | Website and exercise recommendations |
No significant effect MVPA (min/d, min/wk) O Proportion of average total daily time doing MVPA and MVPA for at least 10 min day/w S |
No significant effect Proportion of average screen time/day watching TV and days playing computer, video games, surfing the Internet S |
No significant change pre to post-intervention in either outcome | No information * (NI,?,?,?,?,?,+) |
| McCarroll, 2015 [50] | App giving motivational feedback | Weighing scale |
No significant effect PA times (min/w) S, Caloric expenditure (kcals/w) S |
Not applicable | No significant change pre to post-intervention in either outcome | No information * (NI,?,+,+,+,?,+) |
| Trinh, 2018 [62] | Activity tracker to assess PA and provide alert to decrease SB | Web-based intervention |
Significant effect MVPA (min/w) S, Step counts (steps/w) O No significant effect Light PA (min/w) O, Number of bouts spent in MVPA ≥ 10 min |
Significant effect Sedentary time (min/w) S No significant effect Total time spent in SB bouts of ≥30 min (min/w) O, Number of breaks in time spent in SB bouts of ≥30 min |
Significant increase of MVPA and step counts with significant reduction of sedentary time pre to post-intervention | No information * (NI,?,+,+,?,?,+) |
| mHealth with personal contact intervention | ||||||
| Delrieu, 2020 [63] | Activity tracker and app to monitor activity level | In-person or phone sessions |
Significant effect Domestic PA (min/w) S No significant effect Total PA, recreational PA, moderate PA, vigorous PA, walking PA (MET-min/w) S, Participants proportions in low, moderate, and vigorous PA, n (%) |
Significant effect Sitting time (min/w) S |
Significant decrease in sitting time with significantly favoring a decrease in domestic PA pre to post-intervention | High * (-,?,+,+,+,?,+) |
| Gell, 2017 [43] | Activity tracker for self-monitoring activity and text messages to support PA | Phone call |
No significant effect MVPA (min/w) O, Step counts (steps/d) O |
Not applicable | No significant change pre to post-intervention in either outcome | No information * (NI,?,+,+,+,?,+) |
| Ovans, 2018 [45] | Activity tracker to show feedback and progress toward a goal | In-person or phone coaching |
No significant effect Step counts (steps/d) O, Leisure score index S |
Not applicable | No significant change pre to post-intervention in either outcome | High * (?,?,+,+,?,?,+) |
| Short, 2018 [55] | Recommended app according to individual characteristics | In-person session, printed material and a phone call or email |
No significant effect MVPA, walking, moderate PA, vigorous PA (min/w) S |
Not applicable | No significant change pre- to post-intervention in either outcome | No information * (NI,?,+,+,+,?,+) |
| Spark, 2015 [54] | Text messages for promoting behavioral change. | Phone call |
No significant effect MVPA (min/d) O |
Not applicable | No significant change pre to post-intervention in an outcome | High * (?,?,+,+,+,?,+) |
S: subjective; O: objective; min/d: minutes per day; min/w: minutes per week; steps/d: step counts per day; kcals/w: kilocalories per week. * Assessed using ROBINS-I (Bias due to confounding, Bias in election of participants, Bias in classification of interventions, bias due to deviations from intended interventions, bias due to missing data, bias in measurement of outcomes, Bias in selection of reported results). +: low-risk of bias; /: moderate risk of bias; ?: serious risk of bias; -: critical risk of bias: NI: No information.