An app providing educational intervention while also monitoring and supporting positive behavior change may help mitigate the risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), according to a study published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.
The study focused on how such tools can play into health education and behavior change programs in reducing risk of future disease, such as AD. The six-month research involved 144 participants assigned to a treatment or to the control group. The 83 treatment participants were provided with an app designed specifically for the study.
Of those 83 patients, 85.4 percent said the app motivated them to be more physically active, and 87.5 percent said it helped with healthy food choices.
“It is therefore theorized that a behavior change intervention targeting these risk factors would likely result in favorable rates of AD prevention,” according to the study's authors, who noted that it also has the potential to boost vascular health via changes in behavior.
As FierceMobileHealthcare has previously reported, apps and other tech tools are helping patients track nutrition and food intake, as well as giving them the means ti manage Alzheimer's and other diseases.
The JMIR report authors said mobile phones are an excellent delivery platform for disease intervention because they allow dissemination of information while also driving positive behavior changes.
“Sustained effort to maintain the achieved behaviors is expected to mitigate future AD risk,” the researchers said.
For more information:
- read the study