100 likes | 263 Views
Mobile App for Physical Function Measurement. Bill Wood, MD, MPH Hematology/Oncology. What is Physical Function (PF) and Why is it Important?. PF: Physical abilities (e.g. walking, reaching, mobility) that are critical to maintaining independence
E N D
Mobile App for Physical Function Measurement Bill Wood, MD, MPH Hematology/Oncology
What is Physical Function (PF) and Why is it Important? • PF: Physical abilities (e.g. walking, reaching, mobility) that are critical to maintaining independence • PF strongly associated with survival, hospitalizations, symptoms, quality of life in cancer • Think of a PF score as a measure of overall health
How can Physical Function be Measured? Capacity: what someone can do (walk test, sensor heart rate data) Behavior: what someone does (sensor activity data) Report: what someone experiences (self-reported function)
Ideal PF Measure(s) • Data from each type of source (capacity, behavior, report) • An aggregated / composite score – one number that reflects overall health • (a) Collect the data and (b) Display the score over time in a mobile app for maximum scalability and usefulness
Why Do We Need a PF Score? • Patients: How is my health and how is it affected by my disease or treatment? How can I improve? • Doctors: How is my patient doing? Do I need to call and check in? What treatment intensity should I prescribe, based on my patient’s health? • Industry: Who should enroll on my trial? How can I monitor for adverse events and identify patients who need help? • Hospitals and Health Insurers: How can I monitor the health of my population?
Why Can’t We Just Use a Fitbit or an Apple Watch? • Physical Activity (e.g. steps per day, intensity) is related to Physical Function but not the same • Most wearable sensors are not built for health care environments • We need more functionality than commercial devices currently provide
Our Request • Help us prototype a mobile app that collects PF data (capacity, behavior, report) and displays a PF score over time • The app should be able to integrate with a wearable sensor in order to inform the PF score (and display physical activity data in addition to the PF score) • The app should also collect participant contextual data (e.g. baseline characteristics, symptoms) • Eventually, the app could integrate with an electronic health record • The app should be intuitive and appealing to patients and clinicians alike
Our Team • We have assembled a group of individuals who are very interested in this topic, from different places • UNC, Duke, community • And from different backgrounds • Doctors, patients, researchers, tech enthusiasts, others • This topic is a high priority for our group
Are You Interested? • Please contact Bill Wood (wawood@med.unc.edu) and read the attached handout for additional information • We want to work with you!