JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy (DCM) is a prevalent and progressively disabling neurological condition. Treatment is currently limited to surgery, the timing of which is not without controversy. New international guidelines recommend that all patients should undergo lifelong surveillance and those with moderate to severe or progressive disease should be offered surgery. Long-term surveillance will place substantial burden on health services and short clinic assessments may risk misrepresenting disease severity. The use of smart technology to monitor disease progression could provide an invaluable opportunity to lessen this burden and improve patient care. However, given the older demographic of DCM the feasibility of smart technology use is unclear.

Objective:

The aim of this study is to investigate current usage of smart technology in patients with self-reported DCM to inform design of smart technology applications targeted at monitoring DCM disease progression.

Methods:

Google Analytics from the patient section of Myelopathy.org, an international DCM charity with a large online patient community, were analysed over a one-year period. A total of 15,761 sessions were analysed.

Results:

In total, 39.6% of visitors accessed the website using desktop computer, 35.1% mobile and 25.3% tablet. Of the mobile and tablet visitors, 98.2% utilised a touchscreen device. A total of 51.3% of mobile and tablet visitors used iOS and 45.8% Android operating systems. Apple and Samsung were the most popular smart devices, utilised by 53.6% and 25.8% of visitors, respectively. Overall visitor age was representative of DCM trials. Smart technology was widely used by older visitors: 58.8% of mobile visitors and 84.2% of tablet visitors were 45 years or older.

Conclusions:

Smart technology is commonly used by DCM patients. DCM applications need to be iOS and Android compatible to be accessible to all patients.