Effects of mobile phone application combined with or without self-monitoring of blood glucose on glycemic control in patients with diabetes: a randomized controlled trial.

AIMS/INTRODUCTION: There is potential for mobile applications to deliver new self-management interventions for chronic disease especially in diabetes. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of mobile phone application (MPA) combined with or without self-monitoring of blood glucose (SMBG) on glycemic control in patients with diabetes.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study was a 24-week period, four-arm parallel group, non-blinded, randomized trial. 185 patients with mean age of 52 years were randomized to group A(no MPA and no SMBG), group B (SMBG only), group C (MPA only) and group D (both MPA and SMBG were used). Changes in glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), fasting plasma glucose and 1,5-anhydroglucitol from baseline to week 24 were analyzed.

RESULTS: At 24 weeks, levels in HbA1c in patients of all groups decreased significantly from baseline. There were significant differences in the proportions of patients achieved HbA1c <7% between groups, especially in group C and group D, comparing with group A at week 24 (60.4%, 62.2% vs. 25.5%, all P<0.05). 1,5-anhydroglucitol changes were obvious in group A and group C at week 24 from baseline (all P<0.05 within groups). Factorial analysis of ANOVA showed that MPA intervention was the main effective factor for HbA1c change (F=4.59, P=0.034), and there was no effect on HbA1c change for SMBG intervention (P=0.975).

CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of MPA, Diabetes-Carer, is effective in improving the proportion of HbA1c <7% in patients with type 2 diabetes. This trial was registered as ChiCTR-IOR-16008638 in the Chinese Clinical Trials Registry. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.