Can an app help prevent diabetes? Yes, but maybe not for long
Peer-reviewed: This work was reviewed and scrutinised by relevant independent experts.
Literature review: This type of work involves summarising the literature that has previously been published on a topic.
Literature review: This type of work involves summarising the literature that has previously been published on a topic.
Tools like text reminders, apps, online groups, and virtual dieticians show promise early on for helping people manage their pre-diabetes. However, researchers reviewing recent evidence found those results tended to drop off in the long-term or had mixed outcomes in about a third of the studies they looked at. They say that connecting with other humans could be a key part of what makes the digital tools work early on, or it may be that having multiple ways to engage allows people to choose the one that suits them best.
Funder: Funding for this project was received from a project grant from Precision Driven Health. Melanie Stowell gratefully acknowledges financial support by the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program, which is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and New Zealand Fulbright Commission.
