Introduction:
Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease (ASCVD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Health Information Technologies (HIT) have recently emerged as a viable intervention to mitigate the burden of ASCVD. At least 60% of US adults report searching the internet for health information; however, previous research has not examined prevalence and sociodemographic differences in HIT use among adults with ASCVD.
Objective:
To evaluate the prevalence and sociodemographic differences in HIT use among U.S. adults with a history of diagnosed ASCVD.
Methods:
We pooled cross-sectional data from the 2010-2018 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) to examine HIT use among adults aged ≥18 years (N=2,410) who self-reported being diagnosed with ASCVD (coronary heart disease (CHD) and/or stroke). We evaluated sociodemographic differences in HIT use among respondents with generalized linear models using Poisson distribution. Analyses were weighted according to NHIS standards.
Results:
The mean (±sd) age was 70 (±0.2) years, and 47.7% were female. Among US adults with a history of ASCVD, 22.6% of respondents utilized some form of HIT. HIT users with a history of ASCVD were more likely to be younger in age, have at least some college education, be employed, and be married (
Table 1
).
Conclusion:
HIT use was low among adults with a history of ASCVD, which may represent a barrier to delivering care via emerging HIT. Given the association with sociodemographic factors such as education and employment, there is a need to develop targeted strategies to address sociodemographic barriers that impact HIT usage.
Psychological distress and cardiovascular disease: results from the 2002 National Health Interview Survey