Data acquired from Apple devices may aid in monitoring frailty in patients with CVD
Data acquired from iPhones and Apple Watches successfully predicted 6-minute walk test results and may be beneficial in monitoring frailty in patients with CVD, according to results published in PLOS ONE.
“We were surprised that passively collected data performed almost as well as a home-based 6-minute walk distance for predicting frailty,” Neil Rens, from the division of vascular surgery in the department of surgery and the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University, told Healio. “Passively collected data require much less effort from patients. This means that we can still get good insight into patient frailty while making the process much easier for patients. This has important implications for patient adherence and also means that patient frailty can be continuously measured every day rather than at discrete clinic appointments that are separated by months.”
The longitudinal observation study included 110 participants (mean age, 69 years; 99% men) scheduled for vascular or cardiac procedures at the Palo Alto Veterans Affairs Hospital. Each participant obtained an iPhone and an Apple Watch running the VascTrac application and were followed for 6 months.
The VascTrac app performed weekly at-home 6-minute walk tests and passively collected daily activity data including step counts. During clinic visits at scheduled intervals, each participant performed supervised 6-minute walk tests.
Frailty was accurately assessed through the VascTrac apps on the smartphones and Apple Watches during supervised in-clinic settings with a sensitivity of 90% and a specificity of 85%. When outside of the supervised clinic settings, the VascTrac app demonstrated an assessment of frailty through the home-based 6-minute walk test with a sensitivity of 83% and a specificity of 60%.
Researchers also observed the passive data on daily activity collected at home and found it was nearly as accurate at frailty prediction on clinic-based 6-minute walking tests as home-based 6-minute walking tests (area under the curve using passive activity data, 0.643; AUC using home-based 6-minute walk test, 0.704).
According to the researchers, these findings support the use of wearable Apple devices in detecting frailty when using both the step count and distance measured and that these devices measure 6-minute walking tests nearly as well as in the “gold-standard” supervised in-clinic settings.
“Our findings suggest there may be opportunities to transition some aspects of CVD care outside the clinic. Clinicians could use passively acquired data to determine when their patients need to come into the clinic,” Rens said in an interview. “This could save health care resources and make CVD management easier for patients. Our results also raise a question about whether passive activity data could be used as a vital sign.”
For more information:
Neil Rens, can be reached at neilerens@gmail.com.
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