JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Demographic changes and a low birth rate have led to a workforce shortage in Japan. To address this issue, the government has promoted engagement of female employment. However, increased female employment can impact women's health. Using IoT (Internet of Things) and Apps (Applications) for managing women's health has gained attention, but few studies focus on working women.

Objective:

This study aimed to clarify the current situation of working women, and their use of IoT/Apps to manage their health.

Methods:

A large-scale, nationwide internet survey was conducted among 10,000 female participants aged from 20 to 64 years in Japan. Participants were recruited from a marketing research company’s active survey panel of 5.24 million members. The survey included questions about health status, socio-demographic factors, psychological characteristics, and the use of IoT/Apps for health management. We compared perceived health status and reasons for current IoT use by the t-test, and assessed participant characteristics that predicted IoT use using the C5.0 decision tree algorithm. Ethical approval was granted by St. Luke's International University.

Results:

Among participants, 14.6% currently used IoT/Apps, 7.0% used them previously, and 78.5% never used them. Current users (42.7 years) were older than past users (39.7 years). Discrepancies were observed between participants’ perceived health problems and the purpose of using IoT/Apps, with 21.3% of women reporting menstrual symptoms or disorders, while only 11.9% used IoT/Apps to manage the same symptom. On the other hand, current users were more likely to use IoT/Apps for managing nutrition-related problems such as underweight or obesity (31.6%). Device usage was highest among current users, with 91.7% using smartphones, 62.4% using smartwatches, and 38.9% using PCs. Decision tree analysis identified six clusters, the largest consisting of 81.6% of non-IoT users who did not exercise regularly, while pregnant women were more likely to use IoT/Apps.

Conclusions:

Our findings highlight the idea that woman with particular health problems (i.e. menstrual symptoms or disorders and PMS) have lower use of IoT/Apps, suggesting an unmet need for IoT/Apps in specific areas. Clinical Trial: Ethical approval for this study as a study on human subjects was granted by the Ethics Committee of St Luke's International University (approval number 22-A089)