Evidence map›Paper›PMID 25843244›Full record

SynthesisPreventive medicine2015

Personal financial incentives for changing habitual health-related behaviors: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Eleni Mantzari, Florian Vogt, Ian Shemilt, Yinghui Wei, Julian P T Higgins, Theresa M Marteau

Registry-linked trialAbstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Preventive medicine, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05948709 (Incentives for Physical Activity - an RCT with Older Adults), which is not on this map. Cited by 138 papers, 10 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
138citing papers in PubMed, 10 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT05948709 naterminatednot on this mapstarted 2023, after this paper: background citation

Incentives for Physical Activity - an RCT with Older Adults

TypeinterventionalSponsorUniversity of California, San DiegoRan2023 to 2024Enrolled70ConditionsPhysical ActivityArmsIncentives for Physical Activity
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

138 citing papers in PubMed, 10 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Enhancing Weight Loss Programs: A Meta-Analysis of Financial Incentives and Behavior Change Techniques.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2026
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  6. The effectiveness of nudging: A meta-analysis of choice architecture interventions across behavioral domains.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022
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  9. Incentives for preventing smoking in children and adolescents.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2017
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78 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Eleni MantzariHealth Psychology Section, King's College London, London, UK. Electronic address: em578@medschl.cam.ac.uk.
Florian VogtInstitute of Pharmaceutical Science, King's College London, London, UK. Electronic address: me@fvogt.net.
Ian ShemiltBehaviour and Health Research Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. Electronic address: ids29@medschl.cam.ac.uk.
Yinghui WeiMRC Clinical Trials Unit Hub for Trials Methodology Research, MRC Clinical Trials Unit, London, UK. Electronic address: yinghui.wei@plymouth.ac.uk.
Julian P T HigginsSchool of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol UK; Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, University of York, York, UK. Electronic address: Julian.higgins@bristol.ac.uk.
Theresa M MarteauHealth Psychology Section, King's College London, London, UK; Behaviour and Health Research Unit, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. Electronic address: tm388@medschl.cam.ac.uk.

Funding

Wellcome Trust 086031/Z/08/Z
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesUncertainty remains about whether personal financial incentives could achieve sustained changes in health-related behaviors that would reduce the fast-growing global non-communicable disease burden. This review aims to estimate whether: i. financial incentives achieve sustained changes in smoking, eating, alcohol consumption and physical activity; ii. effectiveness is modified by (a) the target behavior, (b) incentive value and attainment certainty, (c) recipients' deprivation level.

methodsMultiple sources were searched for trials offering adults financial incentives and assessing outcomes relating to pre-specified behaviors at a minimum of six months from baseline. Analyses included random-effects meta-analyses and meta-regressions grouped by timed endpoints.

resultsOf 24,265 unique identified articles, 34 were included in the analysis. Financial incentives increased behavior-change, with effects sustained until 18months from baseline (OR: 1.53, 95% CI 1.05-2.23) and three months post-incentive removal (OR: 2.11, 95% CI 1.21-3.67). High deprivation increased incentive effects (OR: 2.17; 95% CI 1.22-3.85), but only at >6-12months from baseline. Other assessed variables did not independently modify effects at any time-point.

conclusionsPersonal financial incentives can change habitual health-related behaviors and help reduce health inequalities. However, their role in reducing disease burden is potentially limited given current evidence that effects dissipate beyond three months post-incentive removal.

Indexed as

Financing, PersonalHealth BehaviorMotivationAdultHabitsHumansRandomized Controlled Trials as TopicFinancial incentivesHealth promotionHealth-related behaviorMeta-analysisSystematic review

Identifiers

PMID25843244
PMCPMC4728181

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.