Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Cardiol. May 26, 2020; 12(5): 203-209
Published online May 26, 2020. doi: 10.4330/wjc.v12.i5.203
Access to smart devices and utilization of online health resources among older cardiac rehabilitation participants
Abdulghani Saadi, Arun Kanmanthareddy, Mahesh Anantha-Narayanan, Karen Hardy, Mark Williams, Venkata M Alla
Abdulghani Saadi, Arun Kanmanthareddy, Mark Williams, Venkata M Alla, Division of Cardiology, Creighton University School of Medicine, Omaha, NE 68124, United States
Abdulghani Saadi, Arun Kanmanthareddy, Karen Hardy, Venkata M Alla, CHI, Creighton University Medical Center, Omaha, NE 68124, United States
Mahesh Anantha-Narayanan, Section of Cardiovascular Medicine, Yale New Haven Hospital, New Haven, CT 06510, United States
Author contributions: Saadi A, Kanmanthareddy A and Alla V designed research; Saadi A, Kanmanthareddy A and Williams M performed research; Saadi A, Kanmanthareddy A, Anantha-Narayanan M and Alla V analyzed data; Hardy K and Williams M screened patients and conducted survey; all authors wrote the paper; Williams M and Alla VM provided critical review of the paper.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by Institutional Review Board of Creighton University.
Informed consent statement: Survey was by voluntary participation and no personal health information was collected and IRB waived need for consent forms and signature.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There are no conflicts of interest to report.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Mahesh Anantha-Narayanan, MD, Academic Fellow, Doctor, Section of Cardiovascular Medicine, Yale New Haven Hospital, 333 Cedar Street, New Haven, CT 06510, United States. manantha@umn.edu
Received: February 9, 2020
Peer-review started: February 9, 2020
First decision: Mach 5, 2020
Revised: March 29, 2020
Accepted: April 23, 2020
Article in press: April 23, 2020
Published online: May 26, 2020
Processing time: 106 Days and 22.7 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Newer models of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) delivery are promising but depend upon patient participation and ability to use technological media including Internet and smart devices.

AIM

To explore the availability of smart devices, current utilization and proficiency of use among older CR program attendees.

METHODS

Study participants were enrolled from four CR programs in Omaha, Nebraska United States and completed a questionnaire of 28 items.

RESULTS

Of 376 participants approached, 169 responded (45%). Mean age was 71.1 (SD ± 10) years. Demographics were 73.5% males, 89.7% Caucasians, 52% with college degree and 56.9%, with income of 40K$ or more. Smart device ownership was 84.5%; desktop computer was the most preferred device. Average Internet use was 1.9 h/d (SD ± 1.7); 54.3% of participants indicating for general usage but only 18.4% pursued health-related purposes. Utilization of other health information modalities was low, 29.8% used mobile health applications and 12.5% used wearable devices. Of all participants, 72% reported no barriers to using Internet. Education and income were associated positively with measures of utilization and with less perceived barriers.

CONCLUSION

Among an older group of subjects attending CR, most have access to smart devices and do not perceive significant barriers to Internet use. Nonetheless, there was low utilization of health-related resources suggesting a need for targeted education in this patient population.

Keywords: Cardiac rehabilitation; Smart devices; Internet; Perceived barriers

Core tip: The success of newer models of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) that deliver home based CR with remote monitoring depends on patients’ ability to use smart devices. However, unlike the Millennials, elderly patients may have limited proficiency in using these devices. In this study, we surveyed attendees of 4 CR programs in Omaha, United States to assess access, proficiency and barriers to the use of smart devices. Based on our data, we identified that most elderly patients have access to smart devices and reported no perceived barriers to use. Despite this, use of smart devices for health care related applications was minimal.