@Article{info:doi/10.2196/15576,
author="Tang, Matilda Swee Sun
and Moore, Katherine
and McGavigan, Andrew
and Clark, Robyn A
and Ganesan, Anand N",
title="Effectiveness of Wearable Trackers on Physical Activity in Healthy Adults: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials",
journal="JMIR Mhealth Uhealth",
year="2020",
month="Jul",
day="22",
volume="8",
number="7",
pages="e15576",
keywords="wearable activity tracker; physical activity; healthy adults; randomized controlled trials",
abstract="Background: Wearable trackers are an increasingly popular tool among healthy adults and are used to facilitate self-monitoring of physical activity. Objective: We aimed to systematically review the effectiveness of wearable trackers for improving physical activity and weight reduction among healthy adults. Methods: This review used the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) methodology and reporting criteria. English-language randomized controlled trials with more than 20 participants from MEDLINE, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus (2000-2017) were identified. Studies were eligible for inclusion if they reported an intervention group using wearable trackers, reporting steps per day, total moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, activity, physical activity, energy expenditure, and weight reduction. Results: Twelve eligible studies with a total of 1693 participants met the inclusion criteria. The weighted average age was 40.7 years (95{\%} CI 31.1-50.3), with 64.4{\%} women. The mean intervention duration was 21.4 weeks (95{\%} CI 6.1-36.7). The usage of wearable trackers was associated with increased physical activity (standardized mean difference 0.449, 95{\%} CI 0.10-0.80; P=.01). In the subgroup analyses, however, wearable trackers demonstrated no clear benefit for physical activity or weight reduction. Conclusions: These data suggest that the use of wearable trackers in healthy adults may be associated with modest short-term increases in physical activity. Further data are required to determine if a sustained benefit is associated with wearable tracker usage. ",
issn="2291-5222",
doi="10.2196/15576",
url="http://mhealth.jmir.org/2020/7/e15576/",
url="https://doi.org/10.2196/15576",
url="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32706685"
}