Baroutsou, Vasiliki, Hatz, Christoph, Blanke, Ulf, Haile, Sarah R., Fehr, Jan, Neumayr, Andreas, Puhan, Milo A., and Bühler, Silja (2021) TOURIST2 – Tracking of urgent risks in swiss travellers to the 6 main travel destinations – Feasibility and ethical considerations of a smartphone application-based study. Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease, 39. 101912.

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Abstract

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.

Item ID:	84484
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1873-0442
Copyright Information:	© 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Date Deposited:	27 Jan 2025 22:38
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