The Efficacy of an mHealth App in Facilitating Weight Loss Among Japanese Fitness Center Members: Regression Analysis Study

Akifumi Eguchi; Yumi Kawamura; Takayuki Kawashima; Cyrus Ghaznavi; Keiko Ishimura; Shun Kohsaka; Satoru Matsuo; Shinichiro Mizuno; Yuki Sasaki; Arata Takahashi; Yuta Tanoue; Daisuke Yoneoka; Hiroaki Miyata; Shuhei Nomura

doi:10.2196/48435

The Efficacy of an mHealth App in Facilitating Weight Loss Among Japanese Fitness Center Members: Regression Analysis Study

JMIR Form Res. 2023 Nov 8:7:e48435. doi: 10.2196/48435.

Authors

Akifumi Eguchi^#^{1

2}, Yumi Kawamura^#², Takayuki Kawashima^#^{2

3}, Cyrus Ghaznavi^{2

4}, Keiko Ishimura⁵, Shun Kohsaka⁶, Satoru Matsuo⁷, Shinichiro Mizuno⁵, Yuki Sasaki⁵, Arata Takahashi², Yuta Tanoue^{2

8}, Daisuke Yoneoka^{9

10}, Hiroaki Miyata^{2

10}, Shuhei Nomura^{2

10

11}

Affiliations

¹ Center for Preventive Medical Sciences, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan.
² Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Medicine, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan.
³ Department of Mathematical and Computing Science, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan.
⁴ Department of Medicine, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, United States.
⁵ Link & Communication Inc, Tokyo, Japan.
⁶ Department of Cardiology, School of Medicine, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan.
⁷ Communication Design Division, RENAISSANCE INC, Tokyo, Japan.
⁸ Faculty of Marine Technology, Tokyo University of Marine Science and Technology, Tokyo, Japan.
⁹ Center for Surveillance, Immunization, and Epidemiologic Research, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan.
¹⁰ Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research, Tokyo, Japan.
¹¹ Department of Global Health Policy, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 37938885
PMCID: PMC10666009
DOI: 10.2196/48435

Abstract

Background: Self-tracking smartphone apps have emerged as promising tools to encourage healthy behaviors. In this longitudinal study, we used gym use data from members of a major fitness club that operates gyms throughout Japan from January 2014 to December 2019.

Objective: Our objective was to assess the extent to which a health and fitness self-tracking mobile app introduced to gym members on January 1, 2018, contributed to their weight loss. The app allows users to input information regarding diet, sleep, weight, and gym exercise so that they can receive personalized feedback from an artificial intelligence chatbot to improve their health behaviors.

Methods: We used linear regression to quantify the association between app use and weight loss. The primary outcome of the study was the weight loss achieved by each gym user, which was calculated as the difference between their initial and final weights in kilograms, as recorded in the app. Individuals who did not attend the gym or failed to use the mobile app at least twice during the study period were excluded from the analysis. The model accounted for age, gender, distance between the gym and the member's residence, average weekly number of times a member used the gym, user's gym membership length in weeks, average weekly number of times a member input information into the app, and the number of weeks that the app was used at least once.

Results: Data from 26,589 participants were analyzed. Statistically significant associations were detected between weight loss and 2 metrics related to app use: the average weekly frequency of use and the total number of weeks in which the app was used at least once. One input per week was found to be associated with a loss of 62.1 (95% CI 53.8-70.5) g, and 1 week of app use was associated with 21.7 (95% CI 20.5-22.9) g of weight loss from the day of the first input to that of the final input to the app. Furthermore, the average number of times that a member used the gym weekly was also shown to be statistically significantly associated with weight loss: 1 use per week was associated with 255.5 (95% CI 228.5-282.6) g of weight loss.

Conclusions: This empirical study demonstrated a significant association between weight loss among gym members and not only the frequency of weekly gym use but also the use of a health and fitness self-tracking app. However, further work is needed to examine the mechanisms through which mobile apps affect health behaviors and to identify the specific app features that are most effective in promoting weight loss.

Keywords: Japan; digital health; gym attendance; real-world data; smartphone application; weight loss.

©Akifumi Eguchi, Yumi Kawamura, Takayuki Kawashima, Cyrus Ghaznavi, Keiko Ishimura, Shun Kohsaka, Satoru Matsuo, Shinichiro Mizuno, Yuki Sasaki, Arata Takahashi, Yuta Tanoue, Daisuke Yoneoka, Hiroaki Miyata, Shuhei Nomura. Originally published in JMIR Formative Research (https://formative.jmir.org), 08.11.2023.