Observational studyJournal of medical Internet research2023
Fitbit Data to Assess Functional Capacity in Patients Before Elective Surgery: Pilot Prospective Observational Study.
Observational study in Journal of medical Internet research, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed.
- Using an Adult-Designed Wearable for Pediatric Monitoring: Practical Tutorial and Application in School-Aged Children With Obesity.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- An Adjustable Smart Ring to Monitor Pulse Rate and Peripheral Blood Oxygen Saturation.Annals of biomedical engineering · 2026Article
- Article
- Translational Methods for Wearable Heart Rate Variability Monitoring in Older Adults: Preoperative Risk Stratification and Postoperative Monitoring.Journal of cardiovascular translational research · 2026Article
- Article
- Wearable Technology in Cardiology: Advancements, Applications, and Future Prospects.Reviews in cardiovascular medicine · 2025Review
- Feasibility of home step-tracking using wearable devices for older adults undergoing thoracic surgery: A brief report.Journal of geriatric oncology · 2025Article
- Wearable devices for patient monitoring in the intensive care unit.Intensive care medicine experimental · 2025Review
- Influence of a Wearable Fitness Tracker on Time to Return to Baseline Activity Following Abdominoplasty: A Randomized Control Trial.Aesthetic surgery journal. Open forum · 2025Article
- Autocorrelation of daily resting heart rate: A novel metric of postoperative recovery.International journal of medical informatics · 2024Article
- DIGIPREDICT: physiological, behavioural and environmental predictors of asthma attacks-a prospective observational study using digital markers and artificial intelligence-study protocol.BMJ open respiratory research · 2024Article
- Wearable Sensors as a Preoperative Assessment Tool: A Review.Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Cladribine effects on patient-reported outcomes and their clinical and biometric correlates in highly active relapsing multiple sclerosis at first switch: the observational, multicenter, prospective, phase IV CLADFIT-MS study.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Article
- Wearable Health Technology for Preoperative Risk Assessment in Elderly Patients: The WELCOME Study.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Digital technologies for step counting: between promises of reliability and risks of reductionism.Frontiers in digital health · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPreoperative assessment is crucial to prevent the risk of complications of surgical operations and is usually focused on functional capacity. The increasing availability of wearable devices (smartwatches, trackers, rings, etc) can provide less intrusive assessment methods, reduce costs, and improve accuracy.
objectiveThe aim of this study was to present and evaluate the possibility of using commercial smartwatch data, such as those retrieved from the Fitbit Inspire 2 device, to assess functional capacity before elective surgery and correlate such data with the current gold standard measure, the 6-Minute Walk Test (6MWT) distance.
methodsDuring the hospital visit, patients were evaluated in terms of functional capacity using the 6MWT. Patients were asked to wear the Fitbit Inspire 2 for 7 days (with flexibility of -2 to +2 days) after the hospital visit, before their surgical operation. Resting heart rate and daily steps data were retrieved directly from the smartwatch. Feature engineering techniques allowed the extraction of heart rate over steps (HROS) and a modified version of Non-Exercise Testing Cardiorespiratory Fitness. All measures were correlated with 6MWT.
resultsIn total, 31 patients were enrolled in the study (n=22, 71% men; n=9, 29% women; mean age 76.06, SD 4.75 years). Data were collected between June 2021 and May 2022. The parameter that correlated best with the 6MWT was the Non-Exercise Testing Cardiorespiratory Fitness index (r=0.68; P<.001). The average resting heart rate over the whole acquisition period for each participant had r=-0.39 (P=.03), even if some patients did not wear the device at night. The correlation of the 6MWT distance with the HROS evaluated at 1% quantile was significant, with Pearson coefficient of -0.39 (P=.04). Fitbit step count had a fair correlation of 0.59 with 6MWT (P<.001).
conclusionsOur study is a promising starting point for the adoption of wearable technology in the evaluation of functional capacity of patients, which was strongly correlated with the gold standard. The study also identified limitations in the availability of metrics, variability of devices, accuracy and quality of data, and accessibility as crucial areas of focus for future studies.
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