The Association between Smartphone usage and General Health in Adult Cancer Patients: A Study of the Turkish Population during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Aim: The aim of this study is to determine the effect of smartphone screen time on general health status of adult patients with cancer compared to healthy participants in a Turkish population amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

Materials and Methods: 146 participants took part in this study, 81 of them were cancer patients. The mean screen time throughout their last week was obtained from the smartphones of all participants. The health status of participants was analyzed via the General Health Survey (GHS) which was a self-reported questionnaire including 12 items rated on a Likert scale. The relationship between screen time and GHS score and related factors for participants was compared.

Results: The median screen time and GHS of participants were 180 minutes (10-945) and 13.5 (4-28), respectively. After screen time was categorized in respect to the mean of 180 minutes, A younger age (p=0.007), higher educational status (p=0.03), and early-stage disease (p=0.03) were each associated with increased screen time. Cancer stage had a correlation with GHS (add p value and correlation coefficient). While educational level was positively related with screen time (r=0.216, p=0.009), age (r=-0.471, p<0.001) and cancer stage (r=-0.332, p=0.03) were negatively correlated. Screen time was not found to be associated with GHS scores in both cancer patients and healthy participants.

Conclusion: Although smartphone usage has been increasing secondary to the dependence on social networks and increasing in-person restrictions, it did not affect the mental wellbeing among patients with cancer nor healthy participants.