Digital Health in Obesity Care: Current Evidence, Challenges, and Future Directions

The purpose of this review is to highlight areas in which digital technologies including mobile apps, wearables, telehealth, and AI have improved obesity care, where gaps remain, and future directions. Technology is being used in myriad ways to support lifestyle, pharmacological, and surgical obesity care. Mobile apps and wearables reduce the burden of behavior change strategies (e.g., self-monitoring) and telehealth eliminates numerous barriers to in-person obesity care. However, low engagement is a persistent problem with digitally-delivered interventions. An emerging area is the use of AI in obesity care to glean personalized insights from data collected by wearables and mobile apps and to deliver lifestyle coaching. Technology increases access to obesity care, facilitates personalized care, and reduces burden. Future research should examine ways to improve engagement, to design adaptive interventions that are responsive to patients’ evolving care needs, and to facilitate implementation in healthcare settings.