SynthesisJournal of medical Internet research2022
Sustainability of Weight Loss Through Smartphone Apps: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis on Anthropometric, Metabolic, and Dietary Outcomes.
Synthesis in Journal of medical Internet research, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
35 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Smartphone application-based interventions for cardiometabolic risk factor management: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Hypertension research : official journal of the Japanese Society of Hypertension · 2026Pooled it
- Empowering Health Through Digital Lifelong Prevention: An Umbrella Review of Apps and Wearables for Nutritional Management.Nutrients · 2025Pooled it
- Behavior Change Resources Used in Mobile App-Based Interventions Addressing Weight, Behavioral, and Metabolic Outcomes in Adults With Overweight and Obesity: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2025Pooled it
- The Role of Mobile Apps in Obesity Management: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Pooled it
- Mobile health (m-health) smartphone interventions for adolescents and adults with overweight or obesity.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Conversational Agents for Body Weight Management: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Pooled it
- Effectiveness of Combined Health Coaching and Self-Monitoring Apps on Weight-Related Outcomes in People With Overweight and Obesity: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2023Pooled it
- Effects of a comprehensive management mode for overweight/obesity based on mobile internet technology and traditional Chinese medicine constitution theory: a randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Trial
- Effectiveness of a Digital Therapy on 6-Month Weight Loss in People With Obesity: The Digital Therapy to Promote Weight Loss in Patients With Obesity by Increasing Their Adherence to Treatment (DEMETRA) Randomized Clinical Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Trial
- Impacto - A single-arm open-label pilot trial of a digital-based integrated smoking cessation program for Spanish-speaking Hispanic individuals who smoke: Development, feasibility, engagement, and clinical outcomes.Journal of substance use and addiction treatment · 2025Trial
- Mobile-Based Platform With a Low-Calorie Dietary Intervention Involving Prepackaged Food for Weight Loss for People With Overweight and Obesity in China: Half-Year Follow-Up Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2024Trial
- Real-world outcomes of hybrid obesity care using digital coaching and GLP-1 therapy in a multi-ethnic Asian setting.International journal of obesity (2005) · 2026Article
- Evaluation Large Language Models' Time Dependent Consistency in Aesthetic Surgery Consultations and Comparison of Their Performance Across Different Clinical Domains.Aesthetic plastic surgery · 2026Article
- Smartphone-based interventions and the management of hypertension and cardiometabolic risk factors.Hypertension research : official journal of the Japanese Society of Hypertension · 2026Article
- Privacy Policy Compliance of Mobile Sports and Health Apps in China: Scale Development, Data Analysis, and Prospects for Regulatory Reform.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2026Article
- Use of Mobile Application for Improving Drug Compliance and Clinical Outcomes: A Randomized Controlled Trial.International journal of telemedicine and applications · 2026Article
- Real-World Weight Loss Among Patients Initiating Semaglutide 2.4 mg and Enrolled in WeGoTogether, a Digital Self-Support Application.Advances in therapy · 2025 · on this mapArticle
- Mobile Health Interventions for Individuals with Type 2 Diabetes and Overweight or Obesity-A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2025Review
- The Impact of Digital Technology-Based Exercise Combined With Dietary Intervention on Body Composition in College Students With Obesity: Prospective Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundEvidence on the long-term effects of weight management smartphone apps on various weight-related outcomes remains scarce.
objectiveIn this review, we aimed to examine the effects of smartphone apps on anthropometric, metabolic, and dietary outcomes at various time points.
methodsArticles published from database inception to March 10, 2022 were searched, from 7 databases (Embase, CINAHL, PubMed, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library, Scopus, and Web of Science) using forward and backward citation tracking. All randomized controlled trials that reported weight change as an outcome in adults with overweight and obesity were included. We performed separate meta-analyses using random effects models for weight, waist circumference, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, blood glucose level, blood pressure, and total energy intake per day. Methodological quality was assessed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool.
resultsBased on our meta-analyses, weight loss was sustained between 3 and 12 months, with a peak of 2.18 kg at 3 months that tapered down to 1.63 kg at 12 months. We did not find significant benefits of weight loss on the secondary outcomes examined, except for a slight improvement in systolic blood pressure at 3 months. Most of the included studies covered app-based interventions that comprised of components beyond food logging, such as real-time diet and exercise self-monitoring, personalized and remote progress tracking, timely feedback provision, smart devices that synchronized activity and weight data to smartphones, and libraries of diet and physical activity ideas.
conclusionsSmartphone weight loss apps are effective in initiating and sustaining weight loss between 3 and 12 months, but their effects are minimal in their current states. Future studies could consider the various aspects of the socioecological model. Conversational and dialectic components that simulate health coaches could be useful to enhance user engagement and outcome effectiveness.
trial registrationInternational Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO) CRD42022329197; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=329197.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.