%0 Journal Article
%@ 2291-5222
%I JMIR Publications
%V 8
%N 7
%P e15576
%T Effectiveness of Wearable Trackers on Physical Activity in Healthy Adults: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials
%A Tang,Matilda Swee Sun
%A Moore,Katherine
%A McGavigan,Andrew
%A Clark,Robyn A
%A Ganesan,Anand N
%+ College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Level 5, Room 5E209 Flinders Medical Centre, Adelaide, Australia, 61 (08) 7221 8200, anand.ganesan@flinders.edu.au
%K wearable activity tracker
%K physical activity
%K healthy adults
%K randomized controlled trials
%D 2020
%7 22.7.2020
%9 Original Paper
%J JMIR Mhealth Uhealth
%G English
%X 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. 
%M 32706685
%R 10.2196/15576
%U http://mhealth.jmir.org/2020/7/e15576/
%U https://doi.org/10.2196/15576
%U http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32706685