The Impact of a Digital Peer-Supported App on Daily Steps and Lifestyle Changes Among Individuals With Prediabetes and Early-Stage Type 2 Diabetes: Prospective, Nonrandomized Controlled Trial
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Background Physical activity is a simple, low-risk intervention that could be integrated into daily life to improve glycemic control in individuals with prediabetes and early-stage type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, maintaining physical activity remains challenging, even when its benefits are well understood. Although digital peer support has the potential to promote and maintain physical activity, its effectiveness has not yet been sufficiently established. Objective This study examined the impact of a digital peer-supported app on daily step goal achievement and average daily step counts among individuals with prediabetes and early-stage T2DM. Methods This 3-month, prospective, nonrandomized controlled trial recruited participants aged 40-79 years with prediabetes or early-stage T2DM. The participants were divided into a digital peer-supported app group and a control group. The digital peer-supported app group tracked their daily steps, shared their progress with small peer groups, and received real-time feedback and support within the app. The control group tracked their steps individually using a pedometer. The primary outcome was the achievement rate of daily step goals. Secondary outcomes included the average daily step count, BMI, glycosylated hemoglobin A1c level, blood pressure, and self-reported lifestyle behaviors. Results A total of 32 participants (digital peer-supported app group: n=18 and control group: n=14) completed the study. The digital peer-supported app group reported a significantly higher median daily step goal achievement rate (57.2%, IQR 32.2%-90% vs 26.7%, IQR 10%-64.4%; P=.04) and daily step count (6854, IQR 4846-10388 steps vs 3946, IQR 3176-6832 steps; P<.03) compared to the control group. No significant differences were observed in glycosylated hemoglobin A1c levels, blood pressure, BMI, or lifestyle behaviors. Conclusions Our findings inform research in this field by suggesting that a digital peer-supported app may support daily step goal achievement and increase step counts among individuals with prediabetes and early-stage T2DM over the 3-month study period. The digital peer-supported app facilitated real-time feedback, peer approval, and continuous engagement to support participation in light physical activity. Trial Registration UMIN-CTR UMIN000039466; https://center6.umin.ac.jp/cgi-open-bin/ctr_e/ctr_view.cgi?recptno=R000044999
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.002 | 0.004 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.005 | 0.001 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".