21% of FQHC Patients Have a Fitness Tracker, 58% Want One  

About one in five patients who receive care at federally qualified health centers (FQHCs) said they currently have a fitness tracker, and more than half of those who don't have a tracker want one, according to a new study.

Published in npj Digital Medicine, the study involved surveying a sample of 1,007 adult patients at six FQHCs. Of the patients surveyed, 39 percent identified as Hispanic, 36 percent as non-Hispanic Black, and 15 percent as non-Hispanic White. About 71 percent identified as cisgender women, and 45 percent had completed high school. Participants were evenly divided across age groups.

Twenty-one percent of the survey respondents already had a fitness tracker, of which 11 percent said they had an Apple Watch, 6 percent a Fitbit, and 0.1 percent a Garmin device.

When those who did not have a fitness tracker were asked whether they would like one, 58 percent responded yes, 20 percent said no, and 23 percent did not answer.

Among the respondents who said they wanted a fitness tracker, 27 percent said they wanted it to track their steps, 16 percent said to get more exercise, and 14 percent said to look at their heart rate.

Researchers also developed a multivariate logistic regression model and found that participants who would like a fitness tracker were more likely to be in the 46 to 55 and 56 to 65 age groups and more likely to identify as non-Hispanic Black.

In addition, participants who had a smartphone and knew what a fitness tracker was before the survey were more likely to want one.

In the survey, participants were asked what kinds of things get in the way of owning a fitness tracker. These "hindering factors" included cost, language barriers, and lack of awareness of fitness trackers.

The survey findings suggest that spurring the adoption and use of digital health devices, like fitness trackers, requires a high-touch approach, including educational materials and public or private financial investment in devices, researchers said.

Further, cultural nuances need to be considered, especially with regard to the terms used to name the devices. For example, during the study, researchers found that many Spanish-speaking participants were concerned that the devices could be used to track their movements because they were called trackers.

"With the increase in telehealth and telemedicine use due to the COVID pandemic, access to digital health technologies is increasingly important," researchers wrote. "However, as the use of digital technology expands into healthcare, careful consideration is required to ensure that existing health equity gaps are not exacerbated, and additional health equity gaps are not created."

Recent research has shown that wearable devices can not only be used to keep track of health metrics daily but also in the wider response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Studies show they can be used to track COVID-19 progression and physiological responses to vaccination against the disease.

But usability issues may be blocking widespread use. One recent survey shows that 20 percent of healthcare consumers find their devices hard to use, and 87 percent of those who use a device that requires manual data entry said they had at some point recorded inaccurate data.