The effectiveness of Mobile Health interventions in smoking cessation: a systematic review

Background: Smoking is a significant contributor to morbidity and mortality across the world. As smoking is a modifiable behavior, smoking cessation interventions can help smokers to quit tobacco consumption. Mobile Health(M-Health) interventions, such as computer tablet and mobile phone, are one kinds of these interventions. Goal: The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of M-Health interventions in improving smoking cessation by reviewing relevant studies from 2008-2016. Method: The present study is a literature review of M-Health interventions impact in smoking cessation between 2008 and 2016. At first, in order to find related studies an electronic database search was conducted via PubMed, ScienceDirect and Google Scholar databases. The applied keywords were ‘smoking cessation’, ‘mobile health’, ‘text messaging’, and ‘M-Health’. The search strategy was limited to studies which were published in 2008-2016. Studies were included in the review only if they investigated the impact of M-Health in smoking cessation. Results: Of 62 relevant studies, 27 studies had investigated the impact of M-Health interventions in smoking cessation. The results revealed that in general, smokers who received an M-Health intervention have reported improvements compared with smokers who did not received M-Health interventions. In some of existing studies, the intervention did not have statistically significant impact on smoking cessation; however, they resulted in statistically significant lower tobacco consumption and more attempts to quit smoking. Conclusion: M-Health has positive outcomes in treatment of modifiable health behaviors; therefore, M-Health interventions can be included in healthcare programs in order to modify preventive health behaviors such as smoking.