Consideration of intelligent applications to support diabetic patients: A scoping review for nutrition mobile phone apps

Objectives The main objective is to identify the functionality of smart applications in mobile platform for controlling, teaching, and healthy lifestyles in the field of nutrition for diabetic patients. Methods Current review was conducted on mobile platform to consider the functionalities of available applications to support the diabetic patients with the intelligent tools. The results of inclusion criteria (such as nutrition, weight control, blood pressure, education, and interactive analysis tools) were evaluated and organized in the form of a scoping review. All applications in the systematic search were independent of both operating systems. The search samples were found in May 2018 by experts in medical informatics. Results 273 potential applications were identified according to the results of the inclusion criteria with evidence-based strategies and systematic evaluations to find the apps for diabetic patients. Approximately, 29% of apps in both stores (79/273) met primary assessment criteria. Of these, 40% of apps (32/79) excluded from more consideration due to lack in most criteria of this study. The remaining apps are described as follows: 8% of total apps (22/273) and 4% of the apps (11/273) met general criteria and all criteria (including general and special) in the Google play store, respectively. Only 2 apps met general criteria with the Apple iOS while none of them covered with special criteria according to the objectives of this study. Conclusion There are various applications for control, education, and self-care in diabetes. Google is an acceptable platform for developers interested in examining interactive apps and techniques in disease control, education, and healthy lifestyle programs.