Telemedicine Readiness Across Medical Conditions in a US National Representative Sample of Older Adults

Telemedicine has provided older adults the ability to seek care remotely during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. However, it is unclear how diverse medical conditions play a role in telemedicine uptake. A total of 3379 participants (≥65 years) were interviewed in 2018 as part of the Nati...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of applied gerontology 2022-04, Vol.41 (4), p.982-992
Main Authors: Rodríguez-Fernández, Jorge M., Danies, Emily, Hoertel, Nicolas, Galanter, William, Saner, Hugo, Franco, Oscar H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Aging
Arthritis
Blood pressure
Cancer
Chronic Disease
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
COVID-19 - epidemiology
Emotions
Humans
Hypertension
Medical technology
Medicine
Older people
Pandemics
Telecommunications
Telemedicine
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Summary:Telemedicine has provided older adults the ability to seek care remotely during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. However, it is unclear how diverse medical conditions play a role in telemedicine uptake. A total of 3379 participants (≥65 years) were interviewed in 2018 as part of the National Health and Aging Trends Study. We assessed telemedicine readiness across multiple medical conditions. Most chronic medical conditions and mood symptoms were significantly associated with telemedicine unreadiness, for physical or technical reasons or both, while cancer, hypertension, and arthritis were significantly associated with telemedicine readiness. Our findings suggest that multiple medical conditions play a substantial role in telemedicine uptake among older adults in the US. Therefore, comorbidities should be taken into consideration when promoting and adopting telemedicine technologies among older adults.
ISSN:0733-4648
1552-4523
DOI:10.1177/07334648211056231