BACKGROUND
While user-based technology has profoundly impacted modern-day communication, including in oncology care, adoption of new technology differs by age.
OBJECTIVE
We aimed to characterize cancer survivors’ health information technology (HIT) use and evaluate associations with patient-centered communication (PCC) by age at diagnosis.
METHODS
We analyzed responses from cancer survivors with a regular healthcare provider who were diagnosed ≥15 years of age (N=748) from the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) 4 Cycles 3 and 4. We summarized demographics, cancer-related factors, and HIT use by age at diagnosis (15-39, 40-64, ≥65 years). We estimated the influence of HIT use on PCC using multiple linear regression and applied sampling weights and jackknife replications.
RESULTS
Our primary outcome, PCC, ranged from 0-100 (mean: 82.3), with higher scores indicating better communication. More cancer survivors diagnosed ages between ages 40-64 were very/somewhat interested in using electronic appointment reminders, medication reminders, and lab/test results compared to those diagnosed at other ages (all P<0.01). Only 8.9% of those diagnosed ≥65 years emailed healthcare professionals compared to approximately 23% of those between 15-64 years (P=0.016). Rural survivors who were interested in using electronic medication reminders had a 6.31-point higher PCC score compared to urban survivors (95% confidence interval: 0.15-12.47, P=0.046), while smartphone owners and survivors with good or fair/poor health status had a PCC score between -6.25- -8.77 lower (all P<0.01) than their counterparts.
CONCLUSIONS
While health technology cannot replace the need for high-quality PCC, age-based targeting of HIT may improve PCC. Availability of HIT to facilitate survivor self-management may provide more time for providers to engage survivors on critical communication topics (e.g., uncertainty, emotions).