Usefulness of a Standalone Smartphone App for Weight Management among Middle-Aged People with Overweight/Obesity

Abstract

We developed a standalone smartphone app for weight management for middle-aged people. Among people living in Okinawa, Japan, participants were required to have BMI 25 or greater at the time of online registration. The intervention was a 3-month duration using the following four functions: recording of walking steps, diet content and bodyweight, and reading basic health knowledge. Among 87 participants who met our study criteria, 47 (54%) adhered to the program to endline and 28 participants (60%) lost body weight (0.3-5.6 kg loss: 0.3-7.1% loss). Frequency of recording walk steps was associated with BMI reduction with beta coefficient of 0.00847 (95% confidence interval, −0.01595 to −0.00099). No cases of adverse health events were reported during our study period. A standalone app can play an important role in weight management among middle-aged people with overweight/obesity.

Keywords:

• mHealth
• mobile app
• obesity
• overweight
• pandemic
• weight loss

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data can be available upon appropriate request.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yasuharu Tokuda

Yasuharu Tokuda, MD, MPH ([email protected]) is an Adjunct Professor, Tsukuba University School of Medicine and Director, Muribushi Okinawa Center for Teaching Hospitals, Iso, Urasoe City, Okinawa, Japan.

Kento Sonoda

Kento Sonoda, MD, AAHIVS ([email protected]) is an Assistant Professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine, Saint Louis University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO, USA.

Haruka Tokuda

Haruka Tokuda, BA ([email protected]) is a medical student, University of the Ryukyus School of Medicine, Nishihara City, Okinawa, Japan.

Misa Tomono

Misa Tomono, BA ([email protected]) is a medical student, Jikei University School of Medicine, Minato City, Tokyo, Japan.

Shinto Ando

Shinto Ando, MD ([email protected]) is a resident physician, Minamiseikyo Hospital, Nagoya City, Aichi, Japan.