Department of Anesthesiology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
Laboratory of Anesthesia and Critical Care Medicine, National-Local Joint Engineering Research Centre of Translational Medicine of Anesthesiology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
J Med Internet Res. 2023 Jul 17;25:e46298. doi: 10.2196/46298.
Chronic disease incidence among the elderly is increasing, which is correlated with the acceleration of population aging. Evolving internet technologies may help prevent and provide interventions for chronic diseases in an accelerating aging process. However, the impact of daily internet use on the incidence of chronic diseases is not well understood.
This study aims to investigate whether daily internet use by middle-aged and older adults may inhibit or promote the occurrence of chronic diseases.
We included participants from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), a longitudinal survey of Chinese residents aged ≥45 years. We assessed 8-year data from wave 1 (June 2011-March 2012) to wave 4 (July-September 2018) in CHARLS. Data from wave 4 were used for a cross-sectional study, and data from all 4 waves were used for a longitudinal study. Self-reported data were used to track variables, including internet use, use frequency, and the incidence of different chronic diseases. Cox proportional hazards modeling was applied in the longitudinal study to examine the relationship between daily internet use and chronic diseases among middle-aged and older adults, while adjusting for sociodemographic characteristics and health behaviors. In addition, longitudinal data were used to analyze internet usage trends, and cross-sectional data were used to analyze the factors influencing internet use.
Among the 20,113 participants included in the longitudinal analyses, internet use increased significantly, from 2% to 12.3%, between 2011 and 2018. The adjusted model found statistically significant relationships between daily internet use and a lower incidence of the following chronic diseases: hypertension (hazard ratio [HR] 0.78, 95% CI 0.65-0.95, P=.01), chronic lung disease (HR 0.74, 95% CI 0.57-0.97, P=.03), stroke (HR 0.69, 95% CI 0.50-0.94, P=.02), digestive disease (HR 0.73, 95% CI 0.58-0.91, P=.005), memory-related disorders (HR 0.58, 95% CI 0.37-0.91, P=.02), arthritis or rheumatism (HR 0.60, 95% CI 0.48-0.76, P<.001), asthma (HR 0.52, 95% CI 0.33-0.84, P=.007), depression (HR 0.80, 95% CI 0.71-0.89, P<.001), and vision impairment (HR 0.83, 95% CI 0.74-0.93, P=.004). Moreover, our study also showed that with increasing frequency of internet use, the risk of some chronic diseases decreases.
This study found that middle-aged and older adults who use the internet have a reduced risk of developing chronic diseases versus those who do not use the internet. The increasing prevalence of daily internet use among middle-aged and older adults may stimulate contemplation of the potential role of internet platforms in future research on chronic disease prevention.
老年人慢性病发病率不断上升，这与人口老龄化加速有关。不断发展的互联网技术可能有助于预防和干预慢性病在加速老龄化过程中的发生。然而，中老年人日常使用互联网对慢性病发病率的影响尚不清楚。
本研究旨在探讨中老年人日常使用互联网是否会抑制或促进慢性病的发生。
我们纳入了来自中国健康与养老追踪调查（CHARLS）的参与者，这是一项针对≥45 岁中国居民的纵向调查。我们评估了 CHARLS 从第 1 波（2011 年 6 月至 2012 年 3 月）到第 4 波（2018 年 7 月至 9 月）的 8 年数据。第 4 波的数据用于横断面研究，所有 4 波的数据用于纵向研究。自我报告的数据用于跟踪变量，包括互联网使用、使用频率以及不同慢性病的发病情况。Cox 比例风险模型用于检验中年和老年人日常互联网使用与慢性病之间的关系，同时调整了社会人口特征和健康行为因素。此外，我们还分析了互联网使用趋势的纵向数据，并分析了影响互联网使用的因素的横断面数据。
在纳入纵向分析的 20113 名参与者中，互联网使用的比例从 2011 年的 2%显著增加到 2018 年的 12.3%。调整后的模型发现，日常互联网使用与以下慢性病发病率降低呈统计学显著相关：高血压（危险比[HR]0.78，95%置信区间[CI]0.65-0.95，P=.01）、慢性肺部疾病（HR 0.74，95%CI 0.57-0.97，P=.03）、中风（HR 0.69，95%CI 0.50-0.94，P=.02）、消化疾病（HR 0.73，95%CI 0.58-0.91，P=.005）、记忆障碍相关疾病（HR 0.58，95%CI 0.37-0.91，P=.02）、关节炎或风湿病（HR 0.60，95%CI 0.48-0.76，P<.001）、哮喘（HR 0.52，95%CI 0.33-0.84，P=.007）、抑郁（HR 0.80，95%CI 0.71-0.89，P<.001）和视力障碍（HR 0.83，95%CI 0.74-0.93，P=.004）。此外，我们的研究还表明，随着互联网使用频率的增加，某些慢性病的发病风险降低。
本研究发现，与不使用互联网的中老年人相比，使用互联网的中老年人患慢性病的风险降低。中老年人日常互联网使用的比例不断增加，可能会促使人们思考互联网平台在未来慢性病预防研究中的潜在作用。
