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FitBits may assist doctors predict how sufferers will react to chemotherapy

3/6/2018

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Wearable fitness trackers, such as the popular Fitbit, have the potential to help doctors predict which patients will do well on a course of chemotherapy, and be able to intervene before unexpected admissions to the hospital, experts believe.

Researchers said that in the future doctors might be able to use the technology in a number of ways, such as to predict which patients would not perform well in clinical trials. The study was presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncologists conference in Chicago.

“What we’ve learned is that we can get an objective metric of patient performance with the use of these modern technological tools,” stated Jorge Nieva, one of many authors of the analysis from the University of Southern California. He stated the expertise may in impact plug sufferers into the “internet of things”, referring to house items or gadgets which have a web-based connection.

“We’ve all got our home sprinkler systems and our thermostats, all connected to the internet – there’s no reason that our patients shouldn’t also be connected to the internet and have the potential to have monitoring and smart interventions, based on their performance and functioning,” Nieva stated.

Cancer researchers specifically have gravitated towards health trackers as a approach to objectively measure sufferers’ high quality of life. As of December 2015, almost 300 medical trials integrated health trackers to gather private knowledge, in keeping with Bloomberg.

The new trial noticed 65 individuals with stable tumors present process troublesome programs of chemotherapy with medicine more likely to trigger extreme uncomfortable side effects, akin to nausea and vomiting. Researchers measured sufferers’ bodily exercise from 10 am to 7 pm for 60 days utilizing a Microsoft health band, then collected their knowledge from smartphone apps.
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Researchers captured knowledge from 41 individuals, or about two-thirds of sufferers. Patients ended up carrying the health trackers for roughly two-thirds of the research days. High-activity sufferers and low-activity sufferers took about the identical numbers of steps every day, 2,564 steps and a couple of,261 steps respectively.

Only 9 out of 41 sufferers measured obtained greater than 60 hours of non-sedentary exercise, however these sufferers had “significantly” fewer sudden hospitalisations. Active sufferers, Nieva stated, had been getting up, cooking, or cleansing for greater than an hour each three days, and had been much less more likely to have any opposed occasions.

“We found that those patients had a much lower risk of unexpected adverse events, hospitalisations, ER visits,” stated Nieva. Patients with extreme chemotherapy uncomfortable side effects typically go to the hospital for dehydration or ache, he stated.

“It’s exciting that simple technology has the potential to positively impact the quality of life and survival rates of patients undergoing chemotherapy,” stated Jane Maher, chief medical officer at Macmillan Cancer Support.

“Using technology, however, must be part of a bigger package. It’s essential that people are taught to recognize serious side effects of chemotherapy that require intervention,” Maher stated. “What this does highlight is that empowering, supporting and listening to patients is essential to improving cancer care across the board.”

Cancer researchers at the moment are finding out whether or not health trackers might be instruments to measure a affected person’s high quality of life. Scientists at Johns Hopkins University, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and MD Anderson Cancer Center have all collected knowledge from Fitbit’s scientific product Fitabase, in keeping with Wired. In the long run, specialists hope to have the ability to monitor a affected person’s stage of bodily exercise in actual time, the identical because the affected person may however remotely, through the health tracker on their wrist.

Research utilizing health trackers has checked out breast most cancers survivors’ health ranges in contrast with cognitive decline; how motion can assist sufferers keep away from readmission after surgical procedure; and whether or not a number of myeloma sufferers are getting sufficient sleep.
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Fitness trackers have additionally been criticized, nonetheless. As of 2017, Fitbit was concerned in a category motion lawsuit alleging harmful flaws in its heart-rate monitoring expertise. The merchandise are too new for long-term research, and a few argue they do little to encourage long-term health.
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American Society of Clinical Oncologists convention in Chicago, 2018.
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