Digital Health Interventions to Promote Physical Activity in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Systematic Review and Semiquantitative Analysis.

OBJECTIVES

Physical activity (PA) is crucial for older adults' wellbeing. Digital health interventions (DHIs) are important, however a synthesis aimed at healthy community-dwelling OA is lacking. This study aims to synthesize DHIs effect on PA levels among community-dwelling 60-year-old adults or older.

METHODS

A systematic review was performed. DHIs using eHealth/mHealth tools, apps and text messaging were included. Primary outcomes were daily steps, moderate-to-vigorous PA and sedentary time. Quality was assessed via Cochrane risk-of-bias tools. Study-reported effect, study quality, sample size, study duration and dropout rate were semi-quantitatively synthesized to determine the overall category effect.

RESULTS

12 studies were included. 75% were low-quality, sample size was 16-18,080, study duration was 3-18 weeks, average dropout rate was 4.2%-46.7%. The synthesis of "motivational reminders" and "dynamic exercise programs" showed an overall positive effect, of "PA self-monitoring" showed mixed results and "exercise digital coaching" showed a non-positive effect.

DISCUSSION

Motivational reminders and dynamic exercise programs proved more effective in increasing PA in older adults than other interventions and should be more embedded in structured public health programs.