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Older Adults Engage With Personalized Digital Coaching Programs at Rates That Exceed Those of Younger Adults
Sarah A Graham1, Natalie Stein1, Fjori Shemaj1
1Lark Health, Mountain View, CA, United States.
Frontiers in Digital Health
|October 29, 2021
Summary
Older adults are more engaged with digital health platforms than younger adults, demonstrating successful adoption of technology for chronic condition management. This highlights the potential of digital health for scalable, cost-effective care.
Area of Science:
- Digital Health
- Gerontology
- Health Informatics
Background:
- Aging US population requires scalable, cost-effective chronic condition management solutions.
- Older adults disproportionately incur healthcare costs, necessitating innovative interventions.
- Digital health platforms offer potential but face perceived barriers for older adults.
Purpose of the Study:
- To characterize engagement of adults aged 65+ with the Lark Health digital platform.
- To compare engagement metrics between older adults (65+) and younger adults (35-64).
Main Methods:
- Analysis of 2,169 users across four Lark Health coaching programs over 12 months.
- Engagement metrics: digital coaching conversations, meals logged, device measurements.
- Nonparametric bivariate analyses compared engagement between age groups.
Main Results:
- Older adults showed significantly higher engagement than younger adults (p ≤ 0.01).
- Older adults logged more coaching conversations (514 vs. 428), meals (174 vs. 89), and device measurements (39 vs. 28).
- Total engagement: 1.6M+ conversations, 588K+ meals logged, 203K+ device measurements.
Conclusions:
- Older adults readily adopted and engaged with a fully digital health platform.
- Digital health programs are a scalable, cost-effective alternative to traditional telehealth.
- Findings challenge assumptions about older adults' technology adoption barriers.
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