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 the present study was to evaluate the effects of a 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. A total of 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, the HbA1c levels in patients of all groups decreased significantly from baseline. There were significant differences in the proportions of patients that achieved HbA1c <7% between groups, especially in group C and group D, compared 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 the MPA, Diabetes-Carer, is effective in improving the proportion of HbA1c <7% in patients with type 2 diabetes.