Welcome!
Sept. 2, 2022

Health Gadgets: Do They Make Us Healthier?

The player is loading ...
Health Chatter
Health Gadgets: Do They Make Us Healthier?
Apple Podcasts podcast player icon Spotify podcast player icon Castro podcast player icon RSS Feed podcast player icon
Apple Podcasts podcast player icon Spotify podcast player icon Castro podcast player icon RSS Feed podcast player icon

Stan and Clarence chat with Dr. LaPrincess Brewer and Dr. Stuart Grande on whether health gadgets make us healthier. Or do these gadgets further distance us from our bodies and physicians? Listen to hear their thoughts.

LaPrincess Brewer

  • Cardiologist and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Mayo Clinic 
  • Educational background from Johns Hopkins (MPH and residency), GW (MD), and Howard University (BS in chemical engineering) 
  • Special interest in cardiovascular health, health disparities, community-based prevention, women’s heart disease, and public health
  • Recipient of several highly competitive awards, honors, and certifications 
    • Recently a guest on the Minnesota Now podcast to discuss improving heart health in Minnesota’s African American community
  • Founder of FAITH! (Fostering African-American Improvement in Total Health)
    • Goal of the 10-week program is to track improvement in heart health, using seven steps to reduce risk, as identified by the American Heart Association: quit smoking, maintain a healthy weight, eat nutritious foods, get regular physical activity, control blood pressure, and maintain normal glucose and cholesterol levels
    • Recently, her team developed a smartphone app, which includes group support through social networking and educational modules on heart health

 

Stuart Grande

  • Senior Lecturer and Program Director of PHAP MPH Program at University of Minnesota School of Public Health
    • PHAP = Public Health Administration and Policy 
  • Medical Sociologist 
    • Interests in health communication, health behavior, social determinants of health, and community-based participatory research 
    • “The purpose of qualitative research isn’t simply just to translate, but it is to communicate very difficult and complex materials in ways that resonate with community members.” (Minnesota Daily article from 2020 about a group of University of Minnesota researchers promoting the use of qualitative data in scientific papers)
  • Adjunct Lecturer and Research Associate at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice (2016-2021)
  • Has many publications 
  • Educational background from Indiana University (PHD in Health Behavior and MPA in Public Management and Community Development)
  • Fun fact: Assistant Hockey Coach at the Hanover Hockey Association for 5 years! 



Discussion Topics

 

  • Rise of Medical Devices and Tech

 

      1. From telemedicine to artificial intelligence, robotic surgery, and 3D printing, technology is revolutionizing the healthcare industry (Advent Health)
        1. Examples of robotic surgical procedures: prostate cancer surgery, liver transplant, and hysterectomy 
        2. Examples of 3D printing: personalized prosthetics, anatomical models for surgical preparation, and 3D-printed skin for burn victims
      2. The global market for medical devices is expected to reach $640.9 billion in global sales by 2023 (Adapt Insights)
      3. More than 90,000 new digital health apps were added to app stores in 2020—that’s an average of more than 250 new apps every day (Deloitte)
        1. The COVID-19 pandemic helped increase the amount of apps downloaded and used 
      4. Globally, more than 350,000 health apps are available from the various app stores (Deloitte)
      5. Digital health apps are helping clinicians to work smarter…They are also empowering patients with easier access to advice and support while improving their understanding and management of their condition (Deloitte)
      6. Health apps also have the potential to improve sustainability of health care. They can help reduce patient and clinician travel, allow for remote monitoring, treatment, and surgery, and remote medication management (Deloitte)

 

  • Types of Medical Devices and Tech
  • Watches 

 

        1. Steps Tracker; Sleep monitoring; Goal Setting; Workout reminders; Timers and stopwatches; Fitness apps; Easier listening to jams while working out; Custom watch faces; Data syncing for analysis (HR, Blood oxygen, arrhythmias and a-fib)

 

  • Bluetooth enabled devices 

 

        1. Blood pressure cuffs 
        2. Hearing aids 
          1. Today’s sophisticated wireless hearing aids, such as the Oticon MoreTM, use Bluetooth technology to make it possible to connect with personal electronic devices and stream sound directly to hearing aids.

 

  • Apps

 

        1. Examples: 
          1. HealthTap: users can chat with real doctors about general healthcare questions and schedule live consultations with doctors, dentists, and psychologists
          2. Talkspace: virtual therapy app 
          3. Noom: nutrition app that matches people with health coaches in order to reach their health goals (i.e. losing weight or eating healthier)
          4. Fooducate: allows users to scan foods and find out nutrition breakdown and health score 
          5. Hello Heart: blood pressure tracker (also connects to Apple watch)
          6. Headspace: meditation app
          7. Aaptiv: audio-based fitness app that tracks exercise progress and suggests workouts based on fitness level and preferences 
          8. Sleep Cycle: measures quality of sleep, sleep patterns, and any nighttime sleep disruptions 

 

  • Is Health Improving?

 

      1. Many studies have been published proving the effectiveness of apps on managing and educating on diabetes (improved A1C).
        1. First, our study shows that users of mHealth devices and apps can became more autonomous and more motivated in self-regulating their health behavior and more engaged and consistent in their lifestyle and wellness behavior, which leads to improved health outcomes. This suggests that it would be worthwhile for government and private insurers and tech companies to subsidize the prices of these devices in order to encourage their use. Apple, in fact, has been recently collaborating with Medicare plan providers to subsidize its watches for the elderly. 
        2. The authors wrote that health app interventions were “highly successful in significantly improving adherence to health behavior, Framingham CVD risk, dietary behavior, weight, and BMI.” 
        3. Researchers found that seven of the studies provided evidence that using a mobile app can increase adherence to treatment.
        4. Overall, authors found “modest evidence” supporting the efficacy of fitness apps to increase physical activity—and those that were most effective provided short-term interventions, rather than sustained exercise programs.
        5. Researchers found evidence that those using the app experienced reduced symptoms of depression, but weak evidence for reduced symptoms of anxiety.

 

  • Issues to Consider
  • Accessibility 

 

        1. Does every community have equal and equitable access to health devices? 
          1. If not, where are these disparities concentrated? 

 

  • Ethical and Regulatory Issues

 

      1. Data protection (i.e. protecting the sharing and privacy of personal information)
        1. About 28% of apps currently have no privacy policies, increasing the risks of consumers using mobile health apps (Deloitte)
      2. “...Citizens need to trust that the health apps are collecting and analyzing data safely and effectively and in accordance with robust data standards and regulatory scrutiny; and, importantly, that clinicians are acting on the results.” (Deloitte)

Sources