Digital health technology and mobile devices for the management of diabetes mellitus: state of the art

Diabetes mellitus is a disease that can be difficult to manage and requires high levels of health literacy and numeracy, self-monitoring and frequent contact with clinicians. If not optimally controlled, diabetes can lead to kidney failure, blindness and cardiovascular complications, which, in turn, contribute to increasing healthcare costs. Although not yet widely used, mobile health (mHealth) tools have enhanced diabetes management and prevention and are likely to play an increasing role with the growth of smartphone ownership and medical device innovations. Recent mHealth interventions targeting type 1 and type 2 diabetes are diverse in their goals and components, and include insulin management applications, wearable blood glucose meters, automated text messages, health diaries and virtual health coaching. In this paper, we review the modalities and components of various impactful interventions for insulin management, diabetes education, self-management and prevention. More work is needed to investigate how individual demographic, socioeconomic, behavioural and clinical characteristics contribute to patient engagement and the efficacy of mHealth tools for diabetes.