SynthesisJMIR mHealth and uHealth2019
Effects of Mobile Health Including Wearable Activity Trackers to Increase Physical Activity Outcomes Among Healthy Children and Adolescents: Systematic Review.
Synthesis in JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 69 papers, 13 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
69 citing papers in PubMed, 13 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 156 citations in OpenAlex.
- Digital Tools' Effectiveness on Physical Activity Outcomes in Children and Adolescents: Umbrella Review.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2026Pooled it
- Digital Health Interventions to Promote Physical Activity Among Adolescents: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Pooled it
- Effectiveness of wearable activity trackers on physical activity among adolescents in school-based settings: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC public health · 2025Pooled it
- Technology-Supported Physical Activity and Its Potential as a Tool to Promote Young Women's Physical Activity and Physical Literacy: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Pooled it
- Effectiveness of eHealth Interventions Promoting Physical Activity in Children and Adolescents: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Parents' Perceptions of Children's and Adolescents' Use of Electronic Devices to Promote Physical Activity: Systematic Review of Qualitative Evidence.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2023Pooled it
- Getting Connected to M-Health Technologies through a Meta-Analysis.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2023Pooled it
- Wearables for Measuring the Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior of Patients With Axial Spondyloarthritis: Systematic Review.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2022Pooled it
- mHealth Interventions to Reduce Physical Inactivity and Sedentary Behavior in Children and Adolescents: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2022Pooled it
- Effects of Consumer-Wearable Activity Tracker-Based Programs on Objectively Measured Daily Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior Among School-Aged Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Sports medicine - open · 2022Pooled it
- Key facets to build up eHealth and mHealth interventions to enhance physical activity, sedentary behavior and nutrition in healthy subjects - an umbrella review.BMC public health · 2020Pooled it
- Fitbit-Based Interventions for Healthy Lifestyle Outcomes: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2020Pooled it
- Physical Activity, Body Composition, and Fitness Variables in Adolescents After Periods of Mandatory, Promoted or Nonmandatory, Nonpromoted Use of Step Tracker Mobile Apps: Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2024Trial
- Time-Limited Eating and Continuous Glucose Monitoring in Adolescents with Obesity: A Pilot Study.Nutrients · 2021Trial
- Effect of commercial wearables and digital behaviour change resources on the physical activity of adolescents attending schools in socio-economically disadvantaged areas: the RAW-PA cluster-randomised controlled trial.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2021Trial
- The FOOTLOOSE App: Evaluation of a Gamified App-Based Exercise Intervention for Children and Adolescents with Congenital Heart Disease-A Mixed-Methods Feasibility Study.Journal of cardiovascular development and disease · 2026Article
- Article
- Validity and Wear Compliance of Wrist-Worn Consumer Activity Trackers Among Japanese School-Aged Children Under Free-Living Conditions.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Physical activity, sedentary behavior, and adolescent health: a narrative review.Frontiers in public health · 2026Review
9 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundChildren and adolescents do not meet the current recommendations on physical activity (PA), and as such, the health-related benefits of regular PA are not achieved. Nowadays, technology-based programs represent an appealing and promising option for children and adolescents to promote PA.
objectiveThe aim of this review was to systematically evaluate the effects of mobile health (mHealth) and wearable activity trackers on PA-related outcomes in this target group.
methodsElectronic databases such as the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, PubMed, Scopus, SPORTDiscus, and Web of Science were searched to retrieve English language articles published in peer-reviewed journals from January 2012 to June 2018. Those included were articles that contained descriptions of interventions designed to increase PA among children (aged 6 to 12 years) only, or adolescents (aged 13 to 18 years) only, or articles that include both populations, and also, articles that measured at least 1 PA-related cognitive, psychosocial, or behavioral outcome. The interventions had to be based on mHealth tools (mobile phones, smartphones, tablets, or mobile apps) or wearable activity trackers. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and non-RCTs, cohort studies, before-and-after studies, and cross-sectional studies were considered, but only controlled studies with a PA comparison between groups were assessed for methodological quality.
resultsIn total, 857 articles were identified. Finally, 7 studies (5 with tools of mHealth and 2 with wearable activity trackers) met the inclusion criteria. All studies with tools of mHealth used an RCT design, and 3 were of high methodological quality. Intervention delivery ranged from 4 weeks to 12 months, whereby mainly smartphone apps were used as a tool. Intervention delivery in studies with wearable activity trackers covered a period from 22 sessions during school recess and 8 weeks. Trackers were used as an intervention and evaluation tool. No evidence was found for the effect of mHealth tools, respectively wearable activity trackers, on PA-related outcomes.
conclusionsGiven the small number of studies, poor compliance with accelerometers as a measuring instrument for PA, risk of bias, missing RCTs in relation to wearable activity trackers, and the heterogeneity of intervention programs, caution is warranted regarding the comparability of the studies and their effects. There is a clear need for future studies to develop PA interventions grounded on intervention mapping with a high methodological study design for specific target groups to achieve meaningful evidence.
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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.