Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2021 May 17;23(5):e15649.
doi: 10.2196/15649.

Effectiveness of eHealth Nutritional Interventions for Middle-Aged and Older Adults: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Caroline Robert  1   2 , Mojisola Erdt  1   3 , James Lee  1 , Yuanyuan Cao  1 , Nurhazimah Binte Naharudin  1   4 , Yin-Leng Theng  1
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Effectiveness of eHealth Nutritional Interventions for Middle-Aged and Older Adults: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Caroline Robert et al. J Med Internet Res. .

Abstract

Background: The risk of development of chronic diseases related to poor nutrition increases with age. In the face of an aging population, it is important for health care sectors to find solutions in delivering health services efficiently and effectively to middle-aged and older adults.

Objective: The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to consolidate the literature that reported the effectiveness of eHealth apps in delivering nutritional interventions for middle-aged and older adults.

Methods: A literature search from five databases (PubMed, CINAHL, Cochrane, Web of Science, and Global Health) from the past 5 years was performed. Studies were selected for inclusion that used eHealth to deliver nutritional interventions to adults aged 40 years and above, and reported health and behavioral outcomes. Two independent reviewers searched for research articles and assessed the eligibility of studies to be included in the review. A third reviewer resolved disagreements on study inclusion. We also assessed the quality of the included studies using the CONSORT 2010 checklist.

Results: A total of 70 studies were included for analysis. The study quality ranged from 44% to 85%. The most commonly used eHealth intervention type was mobile apps (22/70, 31%). The majority of studies (62/70, 89%) provided multicomponent health interventions, which aimed to improve nutrition and other health behaviors (eg, exercise, smoking cessation, medication adherence). Meta-analysis results indicated high and significant heterogeneity; hence, conclusions based on these results should be considered with caution. Nonetheless, the results generally showed that eHealth interventions improved anthropometric and clinical outcomes, but not behavioral outcomes such as fruit and vegetable consumption.

Conclusions: The use of eHealth apps to deliver health interventions has been increasing in recent years, and these apps have the potential to deliver health services to a larger group of people. Our findings showed that the effectiveness of eHealth apps to deliver health interventions for middle-aged to older adults was supported by the improvement of anthropometric and clinical outcomes. Future work could aim to develop research frameworks in administering eHealth interventions to address heterogeneity in this field of research.

Keywords: eHealth; mHealth; meta-analysis; middle-aged; nutrition apps; nutritional intervention; older adults; systematic review.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart of publication selection procedure.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. WHO global strategy on people-centred and integrated health services. World Health Organization. 2015. [2021-05-10]. https://www.who.int/servicedeliverysafety/areas/people-centred-care/glob...
    1. Denton FT, Spencer BG. Chronic health conditions: changing prevalence in an aging population and some implications for the delivery of health care services. Can J Aging. 2010 Mar;29(1):11–21. doi: 10.1017/S0714980809990390. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Nishida C, Uauy R, Kumanyika S, Shetty P. The joint WHO/FAO expert consultation on diet, nutrition and the prevention of chronic diseases: process, product and policy implications. Public Health Nutr. 2004 Feb 02;7(1A):245–250. doi: 10.1079/phn2003592. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Diet, nutrition, and the prevention of chronic diseases: report of a joint WHO/FAO expert consultation WHO Technical Report Series, No. 916 (TRS 916) World Health Organization. 2003. [2021-05-10]. https://www.who.int/dietphysicalactivity/publications/trs916/en/ - PubMed
    1. Wilson PWF, Meigs JB, Sullivan L, Fox CS, Nathan DM, D'Agostino RB. Prediction of incident diabetes mellitus in middle-aged adults: the Framingham Offspring Study. Arch Intern Med. 2007 May 28;167(10):1068–1074. doi: 10.1001/archinte.167.10.1068. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types