TOURIST2 - Tracking of urgent risks in swiss travellers to the 6 main travel destinations - Feasibility and ethical considerations of a smartphone application-based study

TY - JOUR

T1 - TOURIST2 - Tracking of urgent risks in swiss travellers to the 6 main travel destinations - Feasibility and ethical considerations of a smartphone application-based study

AU - Baroutsou, Vasiliki

AU - Hatz, Christoph

AU - Blanke, Ulf

AU - Haile, Sarah R

AU - Fehr, Jan

AU - Neumayr, Andreas

AU - Puhan, Milo A

AU - Bühler, Silja

N1 - Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

PY - 2020/11/11

Y1 - 2020/11/11

N2 - BACKGROUND: The adoption of mHealth technology in travel medicine is a relatively new and unexplored field. We have further developed a TRAVEL application (app) for real-time data monitoring during travel. In this manuscript we report on the feasibility using this new app in a large and diverse cohort of travellers to three continents.METHODS: We enrolled 1000 participants from the travel clinics of Zurich and Basel, Switzerland, aged ≥18 years, travelling to Thailand, India, China, Tanzania, Brazil and Peru between 09/2017-01/2019. Participants included healthy travellers, individuals with pre-existing chronic diseases and elderly travellers (≥60 years). Participants completed an app-based daily survey on risk behaviours/health incidents pre-, during and after travel. Simultaneously, GPS locations were tightly collected and linked to environmental data.RESULTS: 793 (79%) travellers answered at least one questionnaire during their trip. Participants' median age was 34 years (range 18-84 years); 8% were aged ≥60 years; 55% female; 32% had pre-existing chronic diseases. Completion rates were similar in younger and elderly travellers and in those with and without pre-existing diseases.CONCLUSIONS: The use of a smartphone app is a feasible method for collecting behavioural and health data in elderly travellers and individuals with chronic diseases travelling to three continents.

AB - BACKGROUND: The adoption of mHealth technology in travel medicine is a relatively new and unexplored field. We have further developed a TRAVEL application (app) for real-time data monitoring during travel. In this manuscript we report on the feasibility using this new app in a large and diverse cohort of travellers to three continents.METHODS: We enrolled 1000 participants from the travel clinics of Zurich and Basel, Switzerland, aged ≥18 years, travelling to Thailand, India, China, Tanzania, Brazil and Peru between 09/2017-01/2019. Participants included healthy travellers, individuals with pre-existing chronic diseases and elderly travellers (≥60 years). Participants completed an app-based daily survey on risk behaviours/health incidents pre-, during and after travel. Simultaneously, GPS locations were tightly collected and linked to environmental data.RESULTS: 793 (79%) travellers answered at least one questionnaire during their trip. Participants' median age was 34 years (range 18-84 years); 8% were aged ≥60 years; 55% female; 32% had pre-existing chronic diseases. Completion rates were similar in younger and elderly travellers and in those with and without pre-existing diseases.CONCLUSIONS: The use of a smartphone app is a feasible method for collecting behavioural and health data in elderly travellers and individuals with chronic diseases travelling to three continents.

U2 - 10.1016/j.tmaid.2020.101912

DO - 10.1016/j.tmaid.2020.101912

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

C2 - 33171284

VL - 39

SP - 101912

JO - TRAVEL MED INFECT DI

JF - TRAVEL MED INFECT DI

SN - 1477-8939

ER -