A pragmatic online trial randomised 278 adults with LDL-cholesterol above their risk-adapted target to usual care with or without a self-guided lifestyle application. At six months the adjusted between-group difference in relative LDL change was -3.9%. A fall of at least 10% was reached by 41.7% of app users and 23.8% of controls.
Why it is interesting: Structured lifestyle support is guideline-mandated but rarely delivered; this puts a figure on what a self-guided app adds.
Abstract — the authors' own words, CC BY
Structured lifestyle modification is the guideline-mandated foundation of lipid management but is rarely delivered in routine care. We evaluated lipodia , a fully self-guided digital health application providing structured lifestyle support, in a pragmatic randomised controlled trial conducted online. Adults with LDL-cholesterol above their risk-adapted target (n = 278) were randomised 1:1 to usual care plus lipodia or usual care alone. After six months, lipodia significantly reduced LDL-cholesterol relative to usual care (adjusted between-group difference in relative change −3.9%; p = 0.029), with nearly twice as many users achieving a clinically meaningful reduction of at least 10% (41.7% versus 23.8%; p = 0.002). lipodia also significantly improved patient activation, non-HDL-cholesterol, and health-related quality of life, with high uptake, low attrition, and no adverse device effects. As a self-guided tool, lipodia provides a scalable and guideline-concordant means of delivering structured lifestyle support that is rarely available in routine care.
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