Diabetes costs the United States around $300 billion a year, pushing developers to find a more cost effective means of managing the condition. A recent study published in PLOS ONE tests the effectiveness of mHealth technologies on the patient-physician relationship and self-management of diabetes.

The study analyzed 15 systematic reviews published between 2008 and 2014 for evidence on the effectiveness of mHealth. Results showed that, on average, mHealth technology was able to improve the self-management of blood glucose levels when compared to standard care. mHealth users with type 2 diabetes showed a 0.8 percent improvement in managing the condition while patients with type 1 diabetes saw a 0.3 percent improvement.

“Similar to home telemonitoring, mHealth interventions represent a promising approach for self-management of diabetes,” concluded Spyros Kitsiou, first author on the study, and colleagues. “This overview demonstrates that on average, mobile phone-based interventions with clinical feedback improve glycemic control compared to standard care or other non-mHealth approaches by as much as 0.8 percent for patients with T2D and 0.3 percent for patients with type 1 diabetes, at least in the short-term (≤12 months). The available evidence effectively rules out relatively larger treatment effects. Nonetheless, these findings are consistent with clinically relevant improvements, particularly with respect to patients with type 2 diabetes.”