Personalized risk communication for personalized risk assessment: Real world assessment of knowledge and motivation for six mortality risk measures from an online life expectancy calculator

Abstract

In the clinical setting, previous studies have shown personalized risk assessment and communication improves risk perception and motivation. We evaluated an online health calculator that estimated and presented six different measures of life expectancy/mortality based on a person's sociodemographic and health behavior profile. Immediately after receiving calculator results, participants were invited to complete an online survey that asked how informative and motivating they found each risk measure, whether they would share their results and whether the calculator provided information they need to make lifestyle changes. Over 80% of the 317 survey respondents found at least one of six healthy living measures highly informative and motivating, but there was moderate heterogeneity regarding which measures respondents found most informative and motivating. Overall, health age was most informative and life expectancy most motivating. Approximately 40% of respondents would share the results with their clinician (44%) or social networks (38%), although the information they would share was often different from what they found informative or motivational. Online personalized risk assessment allows for a more personalized communication compared to historic paper-based risk assessment to maximize knowledge and motivation, and people should be provided a range of risk communication measures that reflect different risk perspectives.

The Canadian Health Clock and health calculators

“…Table 1 shows a list of online life expectancy and health risk calculators linked to the 2020 Canadian Health Clock. These calculators were developed using the CCHS linked to mortality and disease incidence, and are published in peer-reviewed journals (Manuel et al 2016(Manuel et al , 2018aArcand et al 2014;Wang et al 2013). These calculations used population-based self-reported health risks, as opposed to clinical measures that are more commonly used in clinical risk algorithms.…”

“…We believe the calculators being promoted in this paper are better than the many competitors available online because of a stronger incorporation of science and having been published in peer-reviewed journals. For example, our life expectancy calculator is based on a careful review of the scientific literature, follows a robust computational algorithm and is based on multivariable personal inputs including both nonmodifiable risk factors such as age, sex and ethnicity, and modifiable risk factors such as smoking, physical activity and nutrition (Manuel et al 2016(Manuel et al , 2018a. In general, the public should trust clocks and calculators which have a clear accountability of the methodology and data source, and which have been peer reviewed, more than others.…”

“…Together, dementia and Alzheimer's disease ranks number 3. *ICD-10, International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision (WHO 2016) (1) Life Expectancy Calculator (Manuel et al 2016;Manuel et al 2018a) https://www.projectbiglife.ca/life-expectancy-home How long can I expect to live? This calculator also suggests ways to live a longer life.…”

Toxicodynamics of Mycotoxins in the Framework of Food Risk Assessment—An In Silico Perspective

“…In the recent years, many efforts have been done to focus medical and healthcare interventions on the individual or small groups of individuals to provide more specific and effective actions. In this framework, it has been developed the principle of personalized risk assessment that is referred to as the process where an individual’s level of risk is calculated using multiple predictors that are specific for an individual [ 88 ]. Such an approach is getting more and more attention as similar doses of specific xenobiotics may cause different responses not only among different species, but also among different individuals of the same species (e.g., [ 89 ]).…”

A Simple Chart to Communicate Health-behaviors-associated Mortality

“…[14] Also, tailoring the communicated risk to the pro le of the individual allows not only more accurate estimates of risk, but also better motivation to take action. [15] The concept of personalized risk assessment is particularly useful when it comes to communicating the risk of multiple health behaviors. Personalized risk assessment allows individuals to compare their risk to different risk pro les which might signi cantly affect risk perception and decision-making.…”