Mobile apps for the treatment of diabetes patients: a systematic review

Purpose: The incidence of diabetes mellitus (DM) is a significant and growing health problem for all countries, regardless of their development level. Providing mobile computing solutions that assist the patients in their daily treatment routine can be an excellent ally. Objective: This systematic review aims to assess how mobile apps for DM treatment follow-up can contribute to improving patients’ quality of life. Method: We searched the bases ACM Digital Library, PubMed, Springer Link, IEEE Explore, and Science Direct databases. We obtained 1608 primary studies; 1485 were used in the screening phase and 791 in the full screening phase, resulting in 106 articles for data extraction from 2013 to 2018. Results: We have identified the main functionalities and characteristics necessary for an application for managing DM, such as automation and ease of data collection. Conclusion: We found that apps for type 1 DM help treat patients, facilitate the collection and access to data, and allow better daily monitoring of treatment. © 2021, Sociedade Brasileira de Engenharia Biomedica.