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Appl Clin Inform 2022; 13(03): 752-766
DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1751305
Research Article

Health Information Technology Use among Chronic Disease Patients: An Analysis of the United States Health Information National Trends Survey

Geetanjali Rajamani
1   Medical School, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
2   Center for Learning Health System Sciences, University of Minnesota, Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
,
Elizabeth Lindemann
2   Center for Learning Health System Sciences, University of Minnesota, Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
3   Information Technology, Fairview Health Services, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
,
Michael D. Evans
4   Biostatistical Design and Analysis Center, Clinical and Translational Science Institute, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
,
Raghu Pillai
3   Information Technology, Fairview Health Services, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
,
Sameer Badlani
3   Information Technology, Fairview Health Services, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
,
Genevieve B. Melton
2   Center for Learning Health System Sciences, University of Minnesota, Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
3   Information Technology, Fairview Health Services, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
5   Department of Surgery, University of Minnesota, Medical School, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
6   Institute for Health Informatics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
› Author Affiliations Funding The authors would like to acknowledge support from Fairview Health Services and the Center for Learning Health System Sciences at the University of Minnesota. Research reported in this publication was also supported by National Institutes of Health grant no.: P30CA077598, utilizing the Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Core shared resource of the Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota and by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health Award no.: UL1-TR002494. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
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Abstract

Background Chronic disease is the leading cause of mortality in the United States. Health information technology (HIT) tools show promise for improving disease management.

Objectives This study aims to understand the following: (1) how self-perceptions of health compare between those with and without disease; (2) how HIT usage varies between chronic disease profiles (diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, pulmonary disease, depression, cancer, and comorbidities); (3) how HIT trends have changed in the past 6 years; and (4) the likelihood that a given chronic disease patient uses specific HIT tools.

Methods The Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) inclusive of 2014 to 2020 served as the primary data source with statistical analysis completed using Stata. Bivariate analyses and two-tailed t-tests were conducted to compare self-perceived health and HIT usage to chronic disease. Logistic regression models were created to examine the odds of a specific patient using various forms of HIT, controlling for demographics and comorbidities.

Results Logistic regression models controlling for sociodemographic factors and comorbidities showed that pulmonary disease, depression, and cancer patients had an increased likelihood of using HIT tools, for example, depression patients had an 81.1% increased likelihood of looking up health information (p < 0.0001). In contrast, diabetic, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease patients appeared to use HIT tools at similar rates to patients without chronic disease. Overall HIT usage has increased during the timeframe examined.

Conclusion This study demonstrates that certain chronic disease cohorts appear to have greater HIT usage than others. Further analysis should be done to understand what factors influence patients to utilize HIT which may provide additional insights into improving design and user experience for other populations with the goal of improving management of disease. Such analyses could also establish a new baseline to account for differences in HIT usage as a direct consequence of the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Keywords

mobile platforms - consumer health informatics - patients with chronic illness or special needs - other clinical informatics applications - internet and the web technology - information seeking

Protection of Human and Animal Subjects

No human and/or animal subjects were included in the study. All data obtained from the HINTS survey were deidentified.




Publication History

Received: 05 January 2022

Accepted: 01 June 2022

Article published online:
11 August 2022

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