In a new study, researchers have done the largest ever review of the effect of movement-monitoring devices, such as pedometers, on the activity of people with diabetes and heart disease.
They found the devices were linked to small-to-medium improvements in physical activity.
The research was conducted by a team at The University of Manchester.
The team used data from 36 studies with a total of 5,208 participants to examine the short-term effects of using wearable step-counting devices on physical activity in adults with type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
Previous studies have shown that the use of pedometers helps patients with chronic conditions to increase their physical activity levels.
However, the team notes that a major limitation from previous studies is that interventions involving step-counting devices vary a lot, so it is unclear which interventions are most effective.
They say that this study differs from earlier ones because it has looked at which types of interventions using the two most common monitoring devices (accelerometers and pedometers) are most effective in improving physical activity among people with diabetes and cardiometabolic conditions.
In the future, longer-term studies are needed to assess these people’s performance over time.
The lead author of the study is Dr. Alex Hodkinson.
The study is published in journal JAMA Network Open.
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