ArticleEnvironmental health and preventive medicine2024
Longitudinal association between frequency of Internet use and incident disability among community-dwelling older people during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Article in Environmental health and preventive medicine, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The Associations Between Digital Exclusion and Physical or Cognitive Function in Middle-Aged and Older Adults: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.JMIR aging · 2026Pooled it
- Exercising alone in men and group exercise in women are cross-sectionally associated with positive mental health among older Japanese.Environmental health and preventive medicine · 2026Article
- Association between tooth brushing habits and incident disability in community-dwelling older adults: a prospective cohort study.Environmental health and preventive medicine · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThere is limited evidence of a protective effect of Internet use for incident disability (ID) during the COVID-19 pandemic. We investigated the association between frequency of Internet use (FIU) and ID among community-dwelling older people.
methodsWe used longitudinal data from the 2019 and 2022 surveys, including 7,913 residents aged ≥65 without disability at baseline. ID was defined as a new public long-term care insurance certification. FIU at baseline was categorized into daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, and non-users. Changes in FIU before and during the COVID-19 pandemic were categorized into continuing frequent (i.e., daily or weekly), continuing moderate (i.e., monthly or yearly), increase in frequency, from non-users to users, decrease in frequency, from users to non-users, and continuing non-users. Covariates included age, gender, education, perceived economic situation, family structure, body mass index, chronic medical conditions, dietary variety, working status, walking time, and cognitive functioning. Multivariable Poisson regression models were used to estimate adjusted cumulative incidence ratio (aCIR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for ID.
resultsDuring the 3-year follow-up, 132 of 4,453 people aged 65-74, 595 of 3,460 people aged ≥75, 287 of 3,660 men, and 440 of 4,253 women developed ID. For FIU at baseline, among people aged ≥75 or men, there was a dose-response relationship between more frequent Internet use at baseline and a lower risk of ID (P-trend was 0.005 in people aged ≥75, and <0.001 in men). Compared to non-users, daily users had a significantly lower risk of ID [aCIR (95% CI) = 0.69 (0.53-0.90) in people aged ≥75, and 0.49 (0.34-0.70) in men]. For changes in FIU, "continuing frequent" and "from non-users to users" had a lower risk of ID than continuing non-users. After stratified analyses, "continuing frequent" remained a significant association in people aged ≥75 or in men, while "from non-users to users" had a significant association in those with daily walking time <30 minutes.
conclusionsAlthough FIU may act as a marker of disability, or indicate individual adaptability, our findings suggest that Internet use may be a potential preventive measure against ID in community-dwelling older people when social distancing is required.
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