Mobile Phone Use clinical trials

The Use of Mobile Applications in Obese and Overweight Adolescents for Health Improvement

Overweight and obesity, understood as an accumulation of abnormal and excessive fat, are the second leading cause of preventable and avoidable mortality in developed countries, with more than 340 million children and adolescents affected by this disease worldwide. As a consequence, overweight and obesity at an early age is already considered a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), with a high incidence in developed countries. The abuse of new technologies has remained at worrying levels in the post-COVID period, favoring an increase in the adolescent population considered sedentary. In this regard, up to 70% of adolescents show sedentary behaviors, especially affecting the time spent on screens by both males (93.8%) and females (87.2%). Thus, the use of the cell phone has been shown to be a determining factor, since between 10% and 16% of adolescents show a problematic use of this device, affecting, among other aspects, their behavior during their free time. In recent years there has been an increase in sedentary time among adolescents and a decrease in the practice of physical activity that has favored a greater accumulation of body fat and increased the probability of being overweight or obese. In this context, some studies have tried to encourage the practice of physical activity in the school context in overweight and obese population, being these interventions effective to improve body composition. However, these interventions also have their detractors, who argue that the hours of Physical Education are too limited to dedicate so much time to a single content, and that the pedagogical component is often overlooked in their implementation. As an alternative to the above, it has been suggested that Physical Education classes could be used to promote interventions that encourage adolescents to practice physical activity in their free time, and mobile applications could be used to monitor the activity carried out by adolescents, but also as an element that generates adherence and enjoyment in this population. Research in this population using these technologies is scarce, therefore, this project aims to determine the effectiveness of a ten-week intervention promoted from the subject of physical education in which a mobile application is used after school hours on physical activity, body composition and fitness in overweight or obese adolescents.