Interest in and concerns about telehealth among adults aged 50 to 80 years

To describe associations between patient factors and interest in and concerns about telehealth video visits among adults in midlife and older.

A cross-sectional, nationally representative panel survey of US adults aged 50 to 80 years (N = 2256) in May 2019.

Multivariable logistic regression was used to estimate the adjusted prevalence of interest in different types of video telehealth visits and concerns about telehealth for individuals with different characteristics.

Individuals aged 65 to 80 (vs 50-64) years were more likely to be interested in a first-time telehealth visit (37.3% vs 31.5%; P < .05) and to be concerned about not feeling personally connected to their provider (52.8% vs 46.5%; P < .05). Women (vs men) were less likely to be interested in a first-time visit (29.3% vs 38.2%; P < .001) and more likely to be concerned about technical difficulties (52.3% vs 42.1%; P < .001). Black, non-Hispanic individuals (vs White, non-Hispanic individuals) were more likely to be interested in first-time (45.2% vs 29.8%; P < .001) and return (67.7% vs 56.2%; P < .01) visits. Individuals comfortable using video chat (vs never users) were more likely to be interested in a telehealth visit for any reason (all P < .001) and less likely to have concerns about privacy, difficulty seeing/hearing, technical difficulties, not feeling personally connected, and lower quality of care (all P < .01).

Interest in and concerns about telehealth vary along the lines of sociodemographic factors and experience using the internet for video communication. These findings have implications for the design of interventions and policies to promote equitable access to health care as it increasingly moves online.