A systematic review of randomized controlled trials of mHealth interventions against non-communicable diseases in developing countries

Table 3 Overview of intervention-group outcomes compared to control-group outcomes

Study	Balsa and Gandelman [25]	Shetty et al. [26]	Shahid et al. [27]	Ostojic et al. [29]	Liu et al. [28]	Piette et al. [23]	Liew et al. [30]	Tian et al. [24]
Intervention	Health promotion & awareness		Remote monitoring & care support					Decision support system
Personalization	No		Yes
Interactivity	No		Yes				No
Disease	Diabetes			Asthma		Hyper-tension	Various NCDs	CVDs
Clinical outcomes
SBP^a (mm Hg), Mean	+/−		++			+ / ++^b		++
Fasting blood glucose level	+/−
BMI^c, kg/m²		+/−^d	+/−^e
PPG^f < 180 mg		++
HbA1c^g		++^h	++ⁱ
TC^j < 150 mg/dl		++
HDL-C^k > 40 mg/dl		+/−
LDL-C^l < 100 mg		++	++
FEV1%^m, predicted				+	++
PEFR^n, L/min				+	++
PEFRvariability				++
Coughing				++
Night symptoms				++
Wheezing				+/−
Limitation of activities				+/−
Compliance outcomes
Attendance		+					++
ICS^o dosage				+/−	+
Systemic steroids				+/−	+
Antileukotrienes				+/−	+/−
Long-acting beta2-agonist
Anti-hypertensive medication use								++
Aspirin								++
Adherence to diet prescription		+/−	++
Adherence to physical activity		+	++
Quality of life related outcomes
Physical component					++
Mental component					++
Cost
Monetary				-
Timely				-
Other outcomes
Knowledge	+/−
Perception of health quality	+/−
Health-related behaviors	+/−
Physician-Patient relationship	+/−
Number of visits to emergency department					++
Depression scores						++
Perceived overall health						++
Overall satisfaction with care						++
Medication problems						++
Current smoker, %								+/−
Awareness of harms of high salt diet, %								+/−
Receiving monthly follow-up, %								++
Hospitalization during the past year, %								+

(+/−): no difference; (+): superior to control group without significance; (++): superior to control group with significance (p < 0.05); (−): inferior to control group. A more detailed summary of reported outcomes, specifying values for intervention and control groups is available in Stephani et al. [44]
^aSystolic Blood Pressure
^bSubgroup of low-literacy people/people with higher education needs
^cBody Mass Index
^dBMI < 26
^eBMI < 25
^fPostprandial Plasma Glucose Test
^gGlycated hemoglobin
^hHbA1c < 8 %
ⁱmean HbA1c level
^jTotal Cholestorol
^kHigh-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol
^lLow Density Lipoprotein
^mPeak Expiratory Flow Rate
ⁿForced Expiratory Volume in 1 second
^oInhaled Corticosteroid

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