Impacts of digital technologies on health and patient-doctor relationship in chronic diseases.

Summary Background: With digital technologies (Internet, mobile app and Internet of Things) becoming widely available over the past decades, concerns have been raised that health outcomes and patient-doctor relationship may be affected by the ease to access to health information. This study aims to investigate those uestions in a population of individuals living with chronic diseases. Method: 954 participant completed an on-line questionnaire measuring their uses of Internet, mobile applications and connected devices, their levels on several health outcomes (health motivation, self-efficacy, empowerment, health-related quality of life) and their quality of patient-doctor relationship. The perceived benefits and limits of the digital technologies on those outcomes were also assessed. Cluster analysis were performed to identify different types of digital technologies users among chronic diseases patients. Groups were then compared on health outcomes and patient-doctor relationship. Results: There are three profiles of digital users in chronic patients population: 1)hyperconnected (8,9% of the total sample, regular users of all digital technologies), 2)biconnected.(19,3%, regular users of the Internet and app, no users of connected devices), 3) hypoconnected (71,8%, casual user of the Internet only). Comparison showed that the more connected people are, the more they perceive benefits of digital technologies on their health despite no differences between the three groups on most health outcomes. Furthermore, hyper- and bi-connected patients are more empowered and also are more engaged in the relationship with their doctor. Discussion: Digital technologies effectively transform patients toward empowerment that is an ally for strengthening the patient-doctor relationship.