JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Over the last 15 years, wearable health devices have become increasingly commonplace, with ownership ranging from 30-50% of adults globally. Using advanced technologies, wearable devices today support both consumer wellness and medical-grade applications for a range of chronic conditions including sleep disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea and insomnia. Despite the growing interest in wearable devices, few studies have explored global consumer adoption and perspectives, and how health and lifestyle decisions are impacted by available insights.

Objective:

This study aimed to examine wearable device adoption, usage patterns, motivations, confidence in wearable-generated data, and health-related behavior changes among adults, with a particular focus on differences by gender and geographic region.

Methods:

We conducted a cross-sectional, global electronic survey of 9980 employees from a multinational health technology company between July and August 2024 to better understand wearable device usage, perceptions, and beliefs among employees. Participants were invited to participate via digital flyers and emails, as well as via printed materials placed in the workplace. Of the total employees invited to the survey, 1589 (16%) employees were eligible, consented, and completed the survey. Descriptive statistics summarized survey responses, and chi-square tests and proportion tests were used to evaluate differences in drivers of wearable use, confidence, and beliefs by gender, region, and sleep-tracking status.

Results:

Respondents had a mean (SD) age of 42 (10) years, and 737 (47%) were women, with regional representation from North America (579/1570, 37%), Western Europe (395/1570, 25%), Australasia (395/1570, 25%), and Asia (201/1570, 13%). Most participants (n=1023, 64%) were current wearable device users and 50% of them (n=513) tracked used a wearable device to track sleep. Wrist-worn devices were the most common form factor (1000/1023, 98%) followed by rings (99/1023, 10%). Participants primarily used devices for wellness tracking, and while most (616/1023, 60%) felt confident in the accuracy of the data, only 15% (n=153) regularly shared data with their healthcare provider (HCP). Among those respondents with obstructive sleep apnea (312/1589, 20%), about 21% (108/513) used a wearable device to track their sleep, with similar rates of data sharing. Usage patterns differed by age, geography and gender, as did sharing of data with HCPs.

Conclusions:

Wearable devices are widely used to support health and wellness behaviors and are associated with self-reported changes in exercise, goal-setting, and sleep habits. Significant differences in engagement and health-related behaviors across gender and geographic regions suggest that demographic and contextual factors influence how wearable technologies are used. These findings may inform the development of more personalized and equitable digital health interventions and support greater integration of consumer-generated health data into healthcare settings.