The Impact of Using a Smartphone Health Application in the Improvement of Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors
Hypercholesterolemia, Obesity, Diabetes Mellitus
About this trial
This is an interventional prevention trial for Hypercholesterolemia focused on measuring Mobile health application, Cardiovascular disease prevention, Metabolic risk factors, Behavioral risk factors
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria: Presentation with at least one of the following metabolic abnormalities: Hypertensions (systolic blood pressure ≥ 130 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure ≥ 85 mmHg) Obesity (waist circumference ≥ 80 cm (women) or ≥ 94 cm (men) and BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2) Dyslipidemia (triglycerides ≥ 1.7 mmol/L or/and HDL-cholesterol ≤ 1.29 mmol/L (women) or ≤ 1.02 mmol/L (men) or/and LDL-Cholesterol > 5.18 mmol/L, serum total cholesterol ≥ 5.2 mmol/l) Impaired glycemia/type 2 diabetes (fasting plasma glucose ≥ 5.6 mmol/L) Arabic or English language speaking and able to read and write in one of these languages Possession of a smart mobile phone Willing to utilize a mobile application for CVD management. Exclusion Criteria: A history of stroke, myocardial infarction or any related cardiovascular complications Complicated diabetes mellitus e.g., Proliferative diabetic retinopathy, end-stage renal disease Unavailability of a smartphone or any reason that will not allow the participant to use the app properly. (such as; difficulty or inability to use mobile applications, unavailability of network services…etc.). Medical conditions that restrain the participant to be physically active. High chance of loss to follow up at the FAMCO clinic (due to upcoming travel, temporary employment and thus eligibility to be treated at the clinic, irregular visits due to distance from home…etc.)
Sites / Locations
Arms of the Study
Arm 1
Arm 2
Experimental
No Intervention
mHealth app-based intervention group
face-to-face consultation group
The app-based intervention group will be given access to a mHealth app that will be specifically designed to motivate the users to increase their physical activity and healthy diet intake while reducing smoking and alcohol intake. The app provides the patients with standardized dietary and exercise guidelines and sends them frequent advice and reminders to follow the guidelines. Changes in the CVD risk factors of the participants will be assessed based on blood biochemical and anthropometric measurements collected every 4 months over a period of 20 months. The app will be designed to include interactive functions which allow the patients to insert their daily caloric intake and exercise, biometric data, track the improvement in their CVD risk factors and CVD risk score.
This group of patients will not have access to mHealth app and will receive the traditional face to face intervention.