JMIR Diabetes

Rural patients with diabetes have difficulty accessing care and are at higher risk for poor diabetes management. Sustained use of patient portal features such as secure messaging (SM) can provide accessible support for diabetes self-management.

The COVID-19 pandemic has revolutionized health care for patients and providers alike. Telemedicine has moved from the periphery of our health care system to center stage more rapidly than anyone could have envisioned. Currently, virtual care has quite effectively replicated the traditional health system’s care delivery model and reimbursement structure—a patient makes an appointment, then sees a physician (except with video or phone replacing in-office visits) who makes a care plan, and the patient and physician meet again at a later timepoint to assess progress. Replicating this episodic care paradigm virtually has been invaluable for delivering care swiftly during the COVID-19 pandemic; however, we can and should do more with the connectedness and convenience that telemedicine technology enables. Continuous remote care, with a data-driven, proactive outreach to patients, represents a decisive step forward in contrast to the currently available episodic, reactive, patient-initiated care. In the context of continuous remote care, patient biometric and symptom data (patient entered and connected data) are assimilated in real time by artificial intelligence–enabled clinical platforms to bring physicians' and other health care team members’ attention to those patients who need intervention, whether this is via medication adjustments, acute care management, or lifestyle coaching. In this paper, we discuss how an innovative continuous remote care approach has improved outcomes in another deadly pandemic—type 2 diabetes mellitus.

The last two decades have witnessed a burgeoning rise in the prevalence of diabetes globally. It has already reached epidemic proportions in Saudi Arabia, with reported high risk among women. As a result, diabetes monitoring and self-management programs are being highly prioritized for diabetes control and management.

Digital health has been advancing owing to technological progress by means of smart devices and artificial intelligence, among other developments. In the field of diabetes especially, there are many active use cases of digital technology supporting the treatment of diabetes and improving lifestyle. In the innovation ecosystem, new alliance networks are formed not only by medical device companies and pharmaceutical companies, but also by information and communications technology companies and start-ups. While understanding and utilizing the network structure is important to increase the competitive advantage of companies, there is a lack of previous research describing the structure of alliance networks and the factors that lead to their formation in digital health.

In-person support groups have been shown to benefit adolescents with type 1 diabetes (T1D) by helping to decrease perceived diabetes burden and improving knowledge related to chronic disease management. However, barriers exist to participation in traditional support groups, including the timing and location of meetings and resources needed to attend. Adolescents are increasingly utilizing online support groups, which may provide solutions to some of the challenges faced when implementing in-person support groups.

Diabetes-related costs are the highest across all chronic conditions in the United States, with type 2 diabetes accounting for up to 95% of all cases of diabetes. A healthy diet is strongly associated with lowering glycated hemoglobin A_1c (HbA_1c) levels among individuals with diabetes, which can help curtail other health complications. Digital health platforms can offer critical support for improving diet and glycemic control among individuals with diabetes. Less is known about the characteristics of people with diabetes who use digital health platforms (specifically, a platform that integrates personalized healthy meal plans and food ordering) and changes in their HbA_1c levels.

Social media platforms, such as Twitter, are increasingly popular among communities of people with chronic conditions, including those with type 1 diabetes (T1D). There is some evidence that social media confers emotional and health-related benefits to people with T1D, including emotional support and practical information regarding health maintenance. Research on social media has primarily relied on self-reports of web-based behavior and qualitative assessment of web-based content, which can be expensive and time-consuming. Meanwhile, recent advances in natural language processing have allowed for large-scale assessment of social media behavior.

Empowering young people with type 1 diabetes (T1D) to manage their blood glucose levels during exercise is a complex challenge faced by health care professionals due to the unpredictable nature of exercise and its effect on blood glucose levels. Mobile health (mHealth) apps would be useful as a decision-support aid to effectively contextualize a blood glucose result and take appropriate action to optimize glucose levels during and after exercise. A novel mHealth app acT1ve was recently developed, based on expert consensus exercise guidelines, to provide real-time support for young people with T1D during exercise.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus has serious health consequences, including blindness, amputation, and stroke. Researchers and clinicians are increasingly in agreement that type 2 diabetes may be effectively treated with a carbohydrate-reduced diet. Digital apps are increasingly used as an adjunct to traditional health care provisions to support remote self-management of long-term health conditions.

Clinical trials have shown that type 2 diabetes (T2D) is preventable through lifestyle interventions targeting high-risk people. Nevertheless, large-scale implementation of risk identification followed by preventive interventions has proven to be challenging. Specifically, recruitment of participants into preventive interventions is an important but often overlooked part of the intervention.

Clinical trials have shown that type 2 diabetes (T2D) is preventable through lifestyle interventions targeting high-risk people. Nevertheless, large-scale implementation of risk identification followed by preventive interventions has proven to be challenging. Specifically, recruitment of participants into preventive interventions is an important but often overlooked part of the intervention.

Mobile health (mHealth) smartphone apps have shown promise in the self-management of chronic disease. In today’s oversaturated health app market, selection criteria that consumers are employing to choose mHealth apps for disease self-management are of paramount importance. App quality is critical in monitoring disease controls but is often linked to consumer popularity rather than clinical recommendations of effectiveness in disease management. Management of key disease variances can be performed through these apps to increase patient engagement in disease self-management. This paper provides a comprehensive review of features found in mHealth apps frequently used in the self- management of diabetes.