Examining the long-term effects of a commercial mHealth app: A 24-month quasi-experimental study of 516,818 app users
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The long-term (i.e., ≥ 12 months) effects of commercial mHealth apps on physical activity (PA) have been scarcely studied. PURPOSE: To conduct a longitudinal examination of a ‘top tier’ commercial mHealth app on population-level PA. METHODS: A 24-month pre-post quasi-experimental study was conducted between December 2016 and June 2019 with Carrot Rewards app users in Ontario, Canada. Users with valid smartphone-assessed baseline step count data were included. Simple linear regression models analyzed weekly mean daily step counts. Post-hoc estimates examined differences in weekly mean daily step count from baseline. RESULTS: The total sample included 516,818 users (% female: 62.83; age [SD]: 33.46 [12.65] years; baseline daily step count [SD]: 6,035 [3,706]). Compared to baseline, weekly mean daily step counts were 464 (95% CIs: 453, 475) and 242 (95% CIs: 221, 264) steps/day higher at 12 and 24 months, respectively. CONCLUSION: This commercial mHealth app increased population-level PA over 24 months.