Wireless and Mobile Technologies Improving Diabetes Self-Management

Abstract

The technological revolution that has created a vast health problem due to a drastic change in lifestyle also holds great potential for individuals to take better care of their own health. This is the focus of the presented overview of current applications, and prospects for future research and innovations. The presented overview and the main goals of the systems included are to utilize information and communication technologies (ICT) as aids in self-management of individual health challenges, for the disease Diabetes, both for Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. People with diabetes are generally as mobile as the rest of the population, and should have access to mobile technologies for managing their disease. Forty-seven relevant studies and prototypes of mobile, diabetes-specific self-management tools meeting our inclusion criteria have been identified; 27 publicly available products and services, nine relevant patent applications, and 31 examples of other disease-related mobile self-management systems are included to provide a broader overview of the state of the art. Finally, the reviewed systems are compared, and future research directions are suggested.