Devices like Fitbits could be used to predict postoperative complications for paediatric patients accurately.
This is according to a study published in Science Advances, which revealed the potential for them to facilitate faster treatment and care.
Senior author Arun Jayaraman, professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, of Physical Therapy and Human Movement Sciences, and of Medical Social Sciences, and a scientist at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, said: ‘Today, consumer wearables are ubiquitous, with many of us relying on them to count our steps, measure our sleep and more. Our study is the first to take this widely available technology and train the algorithm using new metrics that are more sensitive in detecting complications. Our results suggest great promise for better patient outcomes and have broad implications for paediatric health monitoring across various care settings.’
As part of the study, commercially available Fitbit devices were given to 103 children for 21 days immediately after appendectomy, the most common surgery in children, which results in complications in up to 38% of cases.
Instead of relying solely on the metrics automatically recorded by the Fitbit to detect signs of complications (e.g., low activity, high heart rate), Shirley Ryan AbilityLab scientists trained the algorithm with new metrics related to a child’s circadian rhythms and heart rate patterns.
In the process, they discovered that such metrics were more sensitive at detecting complications than traditional metrics.
By analysing the data, scientists were able to retrospectively predict postoperative complications up to three days before formal diagnosis, with 91% sensitivity and 74% specificity.
Historically, surgeons have relied on subjective reports from children, who often struggle to describe their symptoms, or from caregivers after hospital discharge.
As a result, complications are not always identified immediately.
Study author Dr Fizan Abdullah, a former attending physician of paediatric surgery at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and professor of surgery, said: ‘By using widely available wearables, coupled with this novel algorithm, we have an opportunity to change the paradigm of postoperative monitoring and care and improve outcomes for kids in the process.’
This research is part of a four-year project funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). As a next step, scientists aim to develop this approach into a real-time (rather than retrospective) system that automatically analyses data and sends alerts to children’s clinical teams.
