Clemens Ernsting|Stephan U Dombrowski|Monika Oedekoven|Julie Lorraine O’Sullivan|Melanie Kanzler|Adelheid Kuhlmey|Paul Gellert
Using Smartphones and Health Apps to Change and Manage Health Behaviors: A Population-Based Survey
Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin|University of Stirling|Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin|Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin|Pfizer (Germany)|Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin|Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
chronic conditions increasing challenge individuals health care system smartphones health apps potentially promising tools change healthrelated behaviors manage chronic conditionsthe aim study explore 1 extent smartphone health app use 2 sociodemographic medical behavioral correlates smartphone health app use 3 associations use apps app characteristics actual health behaviorsa populationbased survey n4144 among germans aged 35 years older conducted sociodemographics presence chronic conditions health behaviors quality life health literacy well use internet smartphone health apps assessed questionnaire home visit binary logistic regression models appliedit found 6125 25384144 participants used smartphone compared nonusers smartphone users younger research internet likely work fulltime likely university degree engaged physical activity less low fat diet higher healthrelated quality life health literacy among smartphone users 2053 5212538 used health apps app users younger less likely native german speakers research internet likely report chronic conditions engaged physical activity low fat diet health literate compared nonusers smartphone health apps focused smoking cessation 232521 445 healthy diet 201521 386 weight loss 121521 232 common app characteristics planning 264521 507 reminding 188521 361 prompting motivation 179521 344 provision information 175521 336 significant associations found planning health behavior physical activity feedback monitoring physical activity feedback monitoring adherence doctors advicealthough many smartphone health app users substantial proportion population engaged findings suggest agerelated socioeconomicrelated literacyrelated healthrelated disparities use mobile technologies health app use may reflect users motivation change maintain health behaviors app developers researchers take account needs older people people low health literacy chronic conditions