Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA.
Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York, USA.
J Am Geriatr Soc. 2021 Nov;69(11):3051-3057. doi: 10.1111/jgs.17433. Epub 2021 Aug 29.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has highlighted the importance of using information and communication technology (ICT) to address daily and healthcare needs. The barriers for older adults in the United States to learn a new technology to go online during the pandemic remain to be studied.
Using data from the 2019-2020 National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS), a nationally representative survey of older Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 years and older in the United States, we used multivariable logistic regression models to identify sociodemographic and clinical factors associated with learning a new technology to go online during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Our sample represented 23,547,688 older adults nationally, of which the majority (60.2%) increased ICT use during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, most older adults (71.8%) did not report learning a new technology to go online. Those who did not learn a new technology to go online had less of an increase in ICT use than those who learned either with help or by themselves (50.7% vs. 78.4% or 89.2% respectively, p < 0.01). The odds of learning a new technology decreased with increasing age (aOR [95%CI] = 0.96 [0.94-0.98]), being male (aOR [95%CI] = 0.56 [0.45-0.72]), having lower than high school educational attainment (aOR [95%CI] = 0.38 [0.29-0.50]), decreasing income levels (aORs ranged from 0.28 to 0.54), and self-reported fair or poor general health (aOR [95%CI] = 0.65 [0.47-0.90]).
The identified sociodemographic and clinical factors could inform targeted intervention strategies to improve ICT use among older adults during the evolving COVID-19 pandemic and in the future.
2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行凸显了利用信息和通信技术（ICT）来满足日常和医疗保健需求的重要性。美国老年人在大流行期间学习上网新技术的障碍仍有待研究。
我们使用来自美国全国代表性的老年人医疗保险受益人（年龄在 65 岁及以上）的 2019-2020 年国家健康和老龄化趋势研究（NHATS）的数据，使用多变量逻辑回归模型来确定与在 COVID-19 大流行期间学习上网新技术相关的社会人口统计学和临床因素。
我们的样本代表了全国 23547688 名老年人，其中大多数（60.2%）在 COVID-19 大流行期间增加了 ICT 使用。然而，大多数老年人（71.8%）没有报告学习上网新技术。与那些没有学习新技术的人相比，那些通过帮助或自学的方式学习新技术的老年人的 ICT 使用增加更多（分别为 50.7%、78.4%或 89.2%，p<0.01）。学习新技术的可能性随着年龄的增长而降低（OR[95%CI] = 0.96[0.94-0.98]），男性（OR[95%CI] = 0.56[0.45-0.72]），受教育程度低于高中（OR[95%CI] = 0.38[0.29-0.50]），收入水平下降（OR 范围从 0.28 到 0.54），以及自我报告的一般健康状况一般或较差（OR[95%CI] = 0.65[0.47-0.90]）。
确定的社会人口统计学和临床因素可以为在不断演变的 COVID-19 大流行期间以及未来提高老年人的 ICT 使用提供有针对性的干预策略。
