Report: Latinos Primed to Use Technology to Prevent, Manage Diabetes

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Latinos struggle with higher rates of diabetes than other groups.

But Latinos, who also tend to be early adopters of new media technology, are ready to use their technological savvy to help prevent, manage and treat diabetes, according to promising new survey results by electronic health records review company Software Advice.

The survey, which queried 1,983 Latinos, found that:

• 60% of Latinos are interested in tracking diabetes-related risk factors by independently accessing their medical records online (also known as electronic health records, or EHR).
• 71% of Latinos would be more likely to try to lower their diabetes risk if their physician sent a personalized risk assessment.
• 54% of Latinos say they would log and send personal health information electronically at their doctor’s recommendation.

“These results show there are many EHR-enabled opportunities for doctors to engage Latino patients in taking a proactive role regarding diabetes prevention and/or treatment,” according to the report. “These technology-based tactics may be relatively new or still under development, but our findings show most are willing to use them to varying degrees.”