(H-319) Patients’ Ownership and Usage of Smart Devices and Their Willingness to Share Personal Data from Smart Devices for Research

Introduction:: Smart devices—smartphones and smartwatches—are rapidly being adopted by the general population, with 85% and 31% of Americans currently owning smartphones and smartwatches, respectively. This widespread penetration of smart devices in the general population has brought forward an opportunity for individuals, researchers, and clinicians to use the large volumes of physiological and activity data collected by these devices in naturalistic settings to monitor health and track disease for research studies and clinical trials. However, to date, minimal research has been conducted to evaluate respondents’ willingness to share these types of data with researchers and to understand the factors contributing to their choices.

Materials and Methods:: We conducted a survey study among a representative group of 95% patients from the Duke University Health System (DUHS), called Duke Health Listens (DHL), to quantify the ownership and usage of smart devices, reasons for usage, willingness to share data collected by these smart devices for research purposes, and type of data the respondents are comfortable sharing. A total of 1,368 respondents out of 3,021 members (45%) of the DHL community, responded to our online survey between January 18-30, 2022, with 871 female (64%), 826 and 390 White (60%) and Black (29%), respectively, and a majority (52%) 58 and older.

Results, Conclusions, and Discussions:: 1,343 (98%) respondents own a smartphone, including 66% owning an iPhone and 34% owning an Android device. The ownership of smartphones was similar (98-100%) across gender and race/ethnicities. All respondents aged 18-57 own a smartphone, followed by respondents aged 58-76 (98% of 579 respondents), and respondents aged 77-94 (89% of 128 respondents). 59% of survey respondents (N= 802) own a wearable device. A higher percentage of females than males own a wearable device (62% vs 53%, respectively). By race and ethnicity, the percentage of Hispanic respondents owning a wearable device was the highest (68%), followed by Asian (60%), White (59%), and Black respondents (56%). By age group, respondents aged 18-25 (71%) had the highest likelihood of owning a wearable device, followed by respondents aged 26-41 (69%), 42-57 (65%), 58-76 (54%), and 77-94 (39%).


In terms of willingness to share data for research purposes among the respondents owning a smart device (N=1345), 50%, 32%, and 18% of them responded “Willing”, “Maybe Willing”, and “Not Willing”, respectively. Figure 1 shows the type of data that the “Willing” and “Maybe Willing” respondents (N=1102) would be comfortable sharing for research purposes. Most are willing to share their fitness and workout monitoring data (heart rate, step tracking, jogging, etc.) (69% Willing, 22% Maybe Willing, and 9% Not Willing). Conversely, the data type that was most unlikely to be acceptable for sharing was self-reported measures from health and fitness apps (e.g., mindfulness and mood, water intake, food logs, women’s health, etc.) with 50% Willing, 31% Maybe Willing, and 19% Not Willing.

The findings from this study suggest that most of the respondents (98%) own a smartphone and 59% of them own a wearable device. The ownership and usage of smart devices to track health and fitness vary largely with age groups, which should be considered in designing digital health studies using personally-owned smart devices. In our study, most of the respondents are willing to share at least their fitness and workout monitoring data for research purposes. Findings from this study can be used to design digital health studies using personally-owned smartphones and wearables in representative populations.


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