Ownership and Use of Commercial Physical Activity Trackers Among Finnish Adolescents: Cross-Sectional Study

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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Ownership and Use of Commercial Physical Activity Trackers Among Finnish Adolescents: Cross-Sectional Study

subject

Gerontology 020205 medical informatics health promotion Cross-sectional study physical activity Poison control Health Informatics Information technology 02 engineering and technology computer.software_genre mobile phone apps Occupational safety and health terveyden edistäminen disabled children 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine Injury prevention 0202 electrical engineering electronic engineering information engineering mobiilisovellukset adolescents physical activity trackers 030212 general & internal medicine Social determinants of health mHealth Finland mobile phones Original Paper mobile phone mittaaminen Multimedia Human factors and ergonomics ta3141 T58.5-58.64 Health promotion adolescent social determinants of health Public aspects of medicine RA1-1270 Psychology computer fyysinen aktiivisuus

description

BackgroundMobile phone apps for monitoring and promoting physical activity (PA) are extremely popular among adults. Devices, such as heart rate monitors or sports watches (HRMs/SWs) that work with these apps are at sufficiently low costs to be available through the commercial markets. Studies have reported an increase in PA levels among adults with devices; however, it is unknown whether the phenomena are similar during early adolescence. At a time when adolescents start to develop their own sense of independence and build friendship, the ease of smartphone availability in developed countries needs to be investigated in important health promoting behaviors such as PA. ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to investigate the ownership and usage of PA trackers (apps and HRM/SW) among adolescents in a national representative sample and to examine the association between use of devices and PA levels. MethodsThe Finnish school-aged physical activity (SPA) study consisted of 4575 adolescents, aged 11-, 13-, and 15-years, who took part in a web-based questionnaire during school time about PA behaviors between April and May 2016. Binary logistic regression analyses were used to test the associations between moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and devices, after controlling for gender, age, disability, and family affluence. ResultsPA tracking devices have been categorized into two types, which are accessible to adolescents: (1) apps and (2) HRM/SW. Half the adolescents (2351/4467; 52.63%) own apps for monitoring PA, yet 16.12% (720/4467) report using apps. Fewer adolescents (782/4413; 17.72%) own HRM/SW and 9.25% (408/4413) use HRM/SW. In this study, users of HRM/SW were 2.09 times (95% CI 1.64-2.67), whereas users of apps were 1.4 times (95% CI 1.15-1.74) more likely to meet PA recommendations of daily MVPA for at least 60 min compared with adolescents without HRM/SW or without apps. ConclusionsTo our knowledge, this is the first study that describes the situation in Finland with adolescents using PA trackers and its association with PA levels. Implications of the use of apps and HRM/SW by adolescents are discussed.

year	journal	country	edition	language
2017-05-01	JMIR mHealth and uHealth

https://doi.org/10.2196/mhealth.6940