Patient Portal Use Explored for Older Adults With Dementia Diagnosis
Medically reviewed by Drugs.com.
By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, July 6, 2023 -- Older adults with dementia diagnosis are as likely to be registered for a patient portal as those without dementia, and they have a lower portal activity metric, according to a research letter published online June 26 in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Kelly T. Gleason, Ph.D., R.N., from the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing in Baltimore, and colleagues examined older adult patient portal interactions by receipt and timing of dementia diagnosis at a large academic health system. The cohort included 49,382 patients; 6.4 percent had diagnosed dementia.
The researchers found that individuals with dementia were as likely to be registered for the patient portal as those without dementia (71.2 versus 71.5 percent) but were more likely to have a registered care partner with shared access to their account (10.4 versus 3.3 percent). A lower portal activity metric (ratio of number of portal sessions to number of clinical encounters) was seen for persons with versus without a dementia diagnosis (3.88 versus 5.35), but they were as likely to be a portal user (65.5 versus 65.8 percent) and a similar number of messages were sent from their portal account (28.77 versus 29.14). For patients with versus without a dementia diagnosis, more portal messages originated from registered care partners (19.50 versus 13.85). In the 12 months after versus before dementia diagnosis, the portal activity metric was significantly higher (3.34 versus 2.02). In addition, the monthly number of messages sent and number of sessions were also higher (4.31 versus 3.32 and 6.54 versus 4.17, respectively).
"The results highlight the need to better support all patients, including those who desire or rely on care partners, through consumer-oriented health information technologies," the authors write.
Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.
© 2024 HealthDay. All rights reserved.
Posted July 2023
Read this next
Self-Administered Gerocognitive Exam Improves Detection of Cognitive Issues in Primary Care
TUESDAY, July 2, 2024 -- A self-administered gerocognitive examination (SAGE) is easily incorporated into primary care provider (PCP) visits, and its use significantly increases...
Emergence of Psychosis in Alzheimer Disease Linked to Elevations in p-tau181
MONDAY, July 1, 2024 -- For individuals with Alzheimer disease (AD), the emergence of psychosis is associated with elevations in levels of plasma tau phosphorylated at threonine...
Lower Cognitive Function in Adolescence Linked to Stroke Risk
FRIDAY, June 28, 2024 -- Lower cognitive function in adolescence is associated with increased risk of early-onset stroke, according to a study published online June 27 in the...
More news resources
- FDA Medwatch Drug Alerts
- Daily MedNews
- News for Health Professionals
- New Drug Approvals
- New Drug Applications
- Drug Shortages
- Clinical Trial Results
- Generic Drug Approvals
Subscribe to our newsletter
Whatever your topic of interest, subscribe to our newsletters to get the best of Drugs.com in your inbox.