Burda Václav, Mráz Miloš, Schneider Jakub, Novák Daniel
Department of Cybernetics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic.
Department of Diabetes, Diabetes Centre, Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Prague, Czech Republic.
JMIR Diabetes. 2022 Apr 20;7(2):e36675. doi: 10.2196/36675.
This paper describes the development of a mobile app for diabetes mellitus (DM) control and self-management and presents the results of long-term usage of this system in the Czech Republic. DM is a chronic disease affecting large numbers of people worldwide, and this number is continuously increasing. There is massive potential to increase adherence to self-management of DM with the use of smartphones and digital therapeutics interventions.
This study aims to describe the process of development of a mobile app, called Mobiab, for DM management and to investigate how individual features are used and how the whole system benefits its long-term users. Using at least 1 year of daily records from users, we analyzed the impact of the app on self-management of DM.
We have developed a mobile app that serves as an alternative form to the classic paper-based protocol or diary. The development was based on cooperation with both clinicians and people with DM. The app consists of independent individual modules. Therefore, the user has the possibility to use only selected features that they find useful. Mobiab was available free of charge on Google Play Store from mid-2014 until 2019. No targeted recruitment was performed to attract users.
More than 500 users from the Czech Republic downloaded and signed up for the mobile app. Approximately 80% of the users used Mobiab for less than 1 week. The rest of the users used it for a longer time and 8 of the users produced data that were suitable for long-term analysis. Additionally, one of the 8 users provided their medical records, which were compared with the gathered data, and the improvements in their glucose levels and overall metabolic stability were consistent with the way in which the mobile app was used.
The results of this study showed that the usability of a DM-centered self-management smartphone mobile app and server-based systems could be satisfactory and promising. Nonetheless, some better ways of motivating people with diabetes toward participation in self-management are needed. Further studies involving a larger number of participants are warranted to assess the effect on long-term diabetes management.
本文描述了一款用于糖尿病（DM）控制和自我管理的移动应用程序的开发过程，并展示了该系统在捷克共和国的长期使用结果。糖尿病是一种影响全球大量人口的慢性疾病，且这一数字在持续增加。利用智能手机和数字治疗干预措施，在提高糖尿病自我管理依从性方面存在巨大潜力。
本研究旨在描述一款名为Mobiab的用于糖尿病管理的移动应用程序的开发过程，并调查其各个功能的使用方式以及整个系统如何使长期用户受益。我们使用用户至少一年的每日记录，分析了该应用程序对糖尿病自我管理的影响。
我们开发了一款移动应用程序，作为传统纸质协议或日记的替代形式。该开发基于与临床医生和糖尿病患者的合作。该应用程序由独立的单个模块组成。因此，用户有可能只使用他们认为有用的选定功能。Mobiab从2014年年中到2019年在谷歌应用商店免费提供。没有进行针对性招募以吸引用户。
来自捷克共和国的500多名用户下载并注册了该移动应用程序。大约80%的用户使用Mobiab的时间不到1周。其余用户使用时间更长，其中8名用户产生了适合长期分析的数据。此外，8名用户中的1名提供了他们的病历，将其与收集到的数据进行比较，其血糖水平和整体代谢稳定性的改善与移动应用程序的使用方式一致。
本研究结果表明，以糖尿病为中心的自我管理智能手机移动应用程序和基于服务器的系统的可用性可能是令人满意且有前景的。尽管如此，仍需要一些更好的方法来激励糖尿病患者参与自我管理。有必要进行涉及更多参与者的进一步研究，以评估对长期糖尿病管理的影响。
