WB: Use of Wearable Devices Low for Those With Cardiovascular Disease Risk

Less than one in four U.S. adults with or at risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) use wearable devices, according to a study published online June 7 in JAMA Network Open.

Lovedeep S. Dhingra, M.B.B.S., from the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut, and colleagues assessed the sociodemographic patterns of use of wearable devices among U.S. adults with or at risk for CVD. The analysis included 9,303 participants in the Health Information National Trends Survey.

The researchers found that an estimated 3.6 million U.S. adults with CVD (18 percent) and 34.5 million at risk for CVD (26 percent) used wearable devices versus an estimated 29 percent of the overall U.S. adult population. Older age (odds ratio, 0.35), lower educational attainment (odds ratio, 0.35), and lower household income (odds ratio, 0.42) were independently associated with lower use of wearable devices in U.S. adults at risk for CVD when adjusting for other sociodemographic characteristics and cardiovascular risk factor profile. Most wearable device users (83 percent with CVD and 81 percent at risk for CVD) favored sharing wearable device data with their clinicians to improve care.

“These findings suggest that as wearable devices emerge as tools that can improve cardiovascular health, their current use patterns could exacerbate disparities unless there are strategies to ensure equitable adoption,” the authors write.