Characterizing the US Population by Patterns of Mobile Health Use for Health and Behavioral Tracking: Analysis of the National Cancer Institute's Health Information National Trends Survey Data

Abstract

Background: Multiple types of mobile health (mHealth) technologies are available, such as smartphone health apps, fitness trackers, and digital medical devices. However, despite their availability, some individuals do not own, do not realize they own, or own but do not use these technologies. Others may use mHealth devices, but their use varies in tracking health, behaviors, and goals. Examining patterns of mHealth use at the population level can advance our understanding of technology use for health and behavioral tracking. Moreover, investigating sociodemographic and health-related correlates of these patterns can provide direction to researchers about how to target mHealth interventions for diverse audiences.

Objective: The aim of this study was to identify patterns of mHealth use for health and behavioral tracking in the US adult population and to characterize the population according to those patterns.

Methods: We combined data from the 2017 and 2018 National Cancer Institute Health Information National Trends Survey (N=6789) to characterize respondents according to 5 mutually exclusive reported patterns of mHealth use for health and behavioral tracking: (1) mHealth nonowners and nonusers report not owning or using devices to track health, behaviors, or goals; (2) supertrackers track health or behaviors and goals using a smartphone or tablet plus other devices (eg, Fitbit); (3) app trackers use only a smartphone or tablet; (4) device trackers use only nonsmartphone or nontablet devices and do not track goals; and (5) nontrackers report having smartphone or tablet health apps but do not track health, behaviors, or goals.

Results: Being in the mHealth nonowners and nonusers category (vs all mHealth owners and users) is associated with males, older age, lower income, and not being a health information seeker. Among mHealth owners and users, characteristics of device trackers and supertrackers were most distinctive. Compared with supertrackers, device trackers have higher odds of being male (odds ratio [OR] 2.22, 95% CI 1.55-3.19), older age (vs 18-34 years; 50-64 years: OR 2.83, 95% CI 1.52-5.30; 65+ years: OR 6.28, 95% CI 3.35-11.79), have an annual household income of US $20,000 to US $49,999 (vs US $75,000+: OR 2.31, 95% CI 1.36-3.91), and have a chronic condition (OR 1.69, 95% CI 1.14-2.49). Device trackers also have higher odds of not being health information seekers than supertrackers (OR 2.98, 95% CI 1.66-5.33).

Conclusions: Findings revealed distinctive sociodemographic and health-related characteristics of the population by pattern of mHealth use, with notable contrasts between those who do and do not use devices to track goals. Several characteristics of individuals who track health or behaviors but not goals (device trackers) are similar to those of mHealth nonowners and nonusers. Our results suggest patterns of mHealth use may inform how to target mHealth interventions to enhance reach and facilitate healthy behaviors.

Keywords: devices; health communication; mobile applications; mobile health; population health; survey methodology.