March 19, 2024
2 min read
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Key takeaways:
- Across different measures of technology access, adolescents with asthma had high accessibility.
- Differences in technology access based on race, rurality or insurance type were not significant.
WASHINGTON — In a population of 1,000 adolescents with asthma, most had smartphone and internet access, according to data presented at the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology Annual Meeting.
Further, race, rurality and insurance type did not cause differences in internet access, smartphone ownership or report of a monthly phone plan, according to researchers.
Data were derived from Sarkar KR, et al. Abstract 536. Presented at: AAAAI Annual Meeting; Feb. 23-26, 2024; Washington, D.C.
Tamara T. Perry
“This is great news for everyday clinicians because it signals the feasibility of using these types of tools for connecting with patients on digital platforms,” Tamara T. Perry, MD, FAAP, FAAAAI, pediatric allergy and immunology specialist at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, told Healio.
Perry said that it is especially exciting to consider these types of digital tools in pediatric health care because adolescents already use them every day for social connections, education and other purposes.
“Now we have evidence that these same tools can be integrated into their health care to provide education and disease management support,” Perry added.
Using both adolescents deemed eligible and ineligible for a randomized controlled trial on a smartphone asthma action plan, Perry and colleagues assessed 1,000 adolescents (mean age, 14.7 years; 71.6% Black; 21.2% white; 6.1% Hispanic) with persistent asthma to find out if access to technology limits participation in this trial testing a mobile health app for asthma.
Researchers additionally evaluated the impact of race, living area (urban vs. rural) and insurance type on technology access.
Of the total cohort, more individuals were ineligible vs. eligible for the randomized controlled trial (651 adolescents vs. 349 adolescents).
All but 1% of the total cohort reported smartphone access, and more adolescents used an iOS platform compared with an Android platform (70% vs. 29%). A monthly mobile plan was common in the study population (88%).
Internet access was reported by nearly every individual (99%), and most adolescents had their own smartphone (86%), according to researchers.
Most of the total cohort lived in metropolitan areas (85.8%), whereas a smaller percentage of adolescents lived in rural areas (14.2%).
The proportion of individuals living in rural areas with internet access, their own phone, a monthly phone plan and self-reported excellent internet coverage was similar to the proportion of individuals living in urban areas for each of these variables.
“We expected to find reduced access to cellular and internet services in rural regions, but we did not find those differences in our study population,” Perry said.
Of the insurance types, public insurance was the most common (69.4%), followed by private insurance (16.3%), no insurance (14.3%) and unknown (2.9%).
Between adolescents with public insurance and adolescents with a different insurance provider, researchers did not observe any significant differences in the proportion of individuals with internet access (98.7% vs. 99.7%), their own smartphone (87.1% vs. 86.5%) or a monthly phone plan (88% vs. 87.5%), but self-reported excellent internet coverage did significantly differ (33.9% vs. 48.4%; P = .0321).
Within the total cohort, researchers found that less than half of adolescents had the most up-to-date version of their smartphone (42%).
Researchers further observed lower odds for a modern iOS phone among African American vs. non-African American adolescents (OR = 0.64; 95% CI, 0.41-1) and those living in urban vs. rural areas (OR = 0.84; 95% CI, 0.48-1.48).
“Our findings suggest that future studies should accept digital tools as facilitators, not barriers, to improve pediatric health,” Perry said.
Reference:
Sources/Disclosures
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Source:
Sarkar KR, et al. Abstract 536. Presented at: AAAAI Annual Meeting; Feb. 23-26, 2024; Washington, D.C.
Disclosures:
An NIH grant funded this study. Perry reports no relevant financial disclosures.
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