A systematic review on the use of mHealth to increase physical activity in older people

Physical activity (PA) is important for maintaining good physical health. WHO recommends 150 min of PA per week to the older population but many older people do not meet this recommendation. The increasing use of mobile technology among elderly provides an opportunity to increase PA. This systematic review was aimed at the usability, acceptability and effectiveness of mHealth (including smartphone, mobile phone, tablet apps, mobile text messages) to increase PA in older people above the age of 55. A literature search related to mHealth, PA and older people was conducted in PubMed, Embase, Web of science and COCHRANE library. The search generated 829 articles, after the screening of articles and reference lists, ten studies were included in the review. Included studies were diverse in the aspects of study design, intervention mode, duration, frequency of reminders and assessment measures. The results of this review indicated that mHealth interventions with motivational back up may be usable, acceptable and beneficial for the maintenance and improvement of PA in the short term. However, the findings are inconclusive about the difference in effectiveness between simple (mobile text message) and complex mHealth interventions (app monitoring with sensors), the optimal frequency for activity reminders and on the long term effectiveness of mHealth.