Reporting Gaps in mHealth Intervention Studies for Adults With Diabetes: Systematic Review

Diabetes self-management education and support requires scalable digital solutions, making mobile health (mHealth) interventions increasingly vital. Despite their proven clinical efficacy, the real-world translation and scalability of these interventions are severely hindered by fragmented and opaque reporting. To address this methodological gap, the World Health Organization developed the mHealth evidence reporting and assessment (mERA) checklist to standardize reporting transparency.

This study aimed to systematically evaluate the reporting completeness of published randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on mHealth interventions for adult diabetes using the mERA checklist; identify critical reporting gaps; analyze how these deficiencies undermine feasibility, scalability, and sustainability; and propose targeted strategies for future optimization.