Manz Kristin, Krug Susanne, Kühnelt Charlotte, Lemcke Johannes, Öztürk Ilter, Loss Julika
Department 2: Epidemiology and Health Monitoring, Robert Koch Institute, Nordufer 20, Berlin, 13353, Germany, 49 30187543567.
JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2025 Jun 11;13:e59199. doi: 10.2196/59199.
The usage of consumer wearables (CWs; eg, fitness trackers and smartwatches) in the population has increased enormously within the last decade. This has resulted in a large amount of digital person-generated health data that could be used to answer vital research questions. However, little is currently known about the usage of CWs to collect health data from the population living in Germany.
This study aimed to describe the ownership of consumer wearables and their usage for the collection of health data from the adult population living in Germany, as well as the motives for the collection of health data and the average wear times. In addition, this study also aimed to investigate sociodemographic and health- and behavior-related differences between the group of CW users and the group of nonusers.
We used data from the nationally representative survey "German Health Update," which was conducted through telephone interviews in 2021 and 2022. The final sample comprised 4464 adults aged 18 years and older. We derived weighted prevalences for the usage of CWs, as well as adjusted odds ratios for the ownership and the usage of CWs and their association with sociodemographic and health- and behavior-related variables.
Of the adult population, 19.3% (843/4459) owned a CW, of whom 77.8% (650/842) used their CW to collect health data (which corresponds to 650/4458, 15.0% of the adult population). Older people, people with a low income, and people with a lower level of physical activity (PA) were less likely to own a CW and were less likely to use it for the collection of health data. Of the CW users who collected health data, 47.2% (321/650) wore their CW during nocturnal sleep. The most frequently named motives for the collection of health data with a CW were "to observe my PA" (544/647, 85.0%), "for fun" (508/644, 79.0%), and "for support during exercising" (423/647, 66.3%). Women chose the motive "to observe my PA" and "to increase my PA" more often than men, whereas men chose the motive "to observe health issues" more often than women.
Adults living in Germany owning a CW are younger, have a higher income, and are more physically active than individuals who do not use a CW. This means that the population groups that would be in particular need of health care are not sufficiently represented in these health datasets. Researchers should consider the selectivity of CW users when planning to use CW health data to answer research questions.
在过去十年中，消费级可穿戴设备（CWs；如健身追踪器和智能手表）在人群中的使用量大幅增加。这产生了大量由个人生成的数字健康数据，可用于回答重要的研究问题。然而，目前对于在德国生活的人群中使用CWs收集健康数据的情况知之甚少。
本研究旨在描述消费级可穿戴设备的拥有情况及其在收集德国成年人群健康数据方面的使用情况，以及收集健康数据的动机和平均佩戴时间。此外，本研究还旨在调查CW用户组和非用户组之间在社会人口统计学、健康和行为方面的差异。
我们使用了具有全国代表性的“德国健康更新”调查数据，该调查于2021年和2022年通过电话访谈进行。最终样本包括4464名18岁及以上的成年人。我们得出了CWs使用情况的加权患病率，以及CWs拥有和使用情况及其与社会人口统计学、健康和行为相关变量之间关联的调整比值比。
在成年人群中，19.3%（843/4459）拥有CW，其中77.8%（650/842）使用其CW收集健康数据（相当于650/4458，占成年人群的15.0%）。老年人、低收入人群和身体活动（PA）水平较低的人群拥有CW的可能性较小，且使用其收集健康数据的可能性也较小。在收集健康数据的CW用户中，47.2%（321/650）在夜间睡眠时佩戴CW。使用CW收集健康数据最常提到的动机是“观察我的身体活动”（544/647，85.0%）、“为了好玩”（508/644，79.0%）和“在锻炼时提供支持”（423/647，66.3%）。女性选择“观察我的身体活动”和“增加我的身体活动”的动机比男性更频繁，而男性选择“观察健康问题”的动机比女性更频繁。
与不使用CW的人相比，在德国拥有CW的成年人更年轻、收入更高且身体活动更频繁。这意味着在这些健康数据集中，特别需要医疗保健的人群没有得到充分体现。研究人员在计划使用CW健康数据回答研究问题时应考虑CW用户的选择性。
