ArticleJMIR mHealth and uHealth2020
Health Gain, Cost Impacts, and Cost-Effectiveness of a Mass Media Campaign to Promote Smartphone Apps for Physical Activity: Modeling Study.
Article in JMIR mHealth and uHealth, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Economic evaluation of physical activity mass media campaigns across the globe: a systematic review.The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity · 2022Pooled it
- How Is Scale Incorporated Into the Economic Evaluation of Interventions to Prevent Obesity or to Improve Obesity-Related Risk Factors: A Systematic Scoping Review.Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity · 2025Article
- Evaluation of the 'A walk can work wonders' mass media campaign in South Australia.Health promotion journal of Australia : official journal of Australian Association of Health Promotion Professionals · 2025Article
- Promoting physical activity: the contribution of regulatory fit.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2025Article
- Assessing physical activity promotion in different settings and how its associated with public participation during COVID-19 epidemic: evidence from national policy evaluation.BMC public health · 2023Article
- Health economic evaluation of preventive digital public health interventions using decision-analytic modelling: a systematized review.BMC health services research · 2023Review
- Prioritization of intervention domains to prevent cardiovascular disease: a country-level case study using global burden of disease and local data.Population health metrics · 2023Article
- Association of a Community Population and Clinic Education Intervention Program With Guideline-Based Aspirin Use for Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease: A Nonrandomized Controlled Trial.JAMA network open · 2022Article
- The Cost-effectiveness of a Mass Media Campaign to Promote Smartphone Apps for Weight Loss: Updated Modeling Study.JMIR formative research · 2022Article
- Prescribing Smartphone Apps for Physical Activity Promotion in Primary Care: Modeling Study of Health Gain and Cost Savings.Journal of medical Internet research · 2021Article
- Is it worth it? Cost-effectiveness analysis of a commercial physical activity app.BMC public health · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPhysical activity smartphone apps are a promising strategy to increase population physical activity, but it is unclear whether government mass media campaigns to promote these apps would be a cost-effective use of public funds.
objectiveWe aimed to estimate the health impacts, costs, and cost-effectiveness of a one-off national mass media campaign to promote the use of physical activity apps.
methodsWe used an established multistate life table model to estimate the lifetime health gains (in quality-adjusted life years [QALYs]) that would accrue if New Zealand adults were exposed to a one-off national mass media campaign to promote physical activity app use, with a 1-year impact on physical activity, compared to business-as-usual. A health-system perspective was used to assess cost-effectiveness. and a 3% discount rate was applied to future health gains and health system costs.
resultsThe modeled intervention resulted in 28 QALYs (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 8-72) gained at a cost of NZ $81,000/QALY (2018 US $59,500; 95% UI 17,000-345,000), over the remaining life course of the 2011 New Zealand population. The intervention had a low probability (20%) of being cost-effective at a cost-effectiveness threshold of NZ $45,000 (US $32,900) per QALY. The health impact and cost-effectiveness of the intervention were highly sensitive to assumptions around the maintenance of physical activity behaviors beyond the duration of the intervention.
conclusionsA mass media campaign to promote smartphone apps for physical activity is unlikely to generate much health gain or be cost-effective at the population level. Other investments to promote physical activity, particularly those that result in sustained behavior change, are likely to have greater health impacts.
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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.