Patterns of willingness to share health data with key stakeholders in US consumers: a latent class analysis

Objective To identify distinct patterns in consumer willingness to share health data with various stakeholders and analyze characteristics across consumer groups. Materials and Methods Data from the Rock Health Digital Health Consumer Adoption Survey from 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2022 were analyzed. This study comprised a Census-matched representative sample of U.S. adults. Latent class analysis (LCA) identified groups of respondents with similar data-sharing attitudes. Groups were compared by sociodemographics, health status, and digital health utilization. Results We identified three distinct LCA groups: (1) Wary (36.8%), (2) Discerning (47.9%), and (3) Permissive (15.3%). The Wary subgroup exhibited reluctance to share health data with any stakeholder, with predicted probabilities of willingness to share ranging from 0.07 for pharmaceutical companies to 0.34 for doctors/clinicians. The Permissive group showed a high willingness, with predicted probabilities greater than 0.75 for most stakeholders except technology companies and government organizations. The Discerning group was selective, willing to share with healthcare-related entities and family (predicted probabilities >0.62), but reluctant to share with other stakeholders (predicted probabilities <0.29). Individual characteristics were associated with LCA group membership. Discussion Findings highlight a persistent trust in traditional healthcare providers. However, the varying willingness to share with non-traditional stakeholders suggests that while some consumers are open to sharing, others remain hesitant and selective. Data privacy policies and practices need to recognize and respond to multifaceted and stakeholder-specific attitudes. Conclusion LCA reveals significant heterogeneity in health data-sharing attitudes among U.S. consumers, providing insights to inform the development of data privacy policies.