Exploring the Potential Use of Wearable Devices as a Prognostic Tool among Patients in Hospice Care

Yaoru Huang; Muhammad Ashad Kabir; Umashankar Upadhyay; Eshita Dhar; Mohy Uddin; Shabbir Syed-Abdul

doi:10.3390/medicina58121824

Medicina (Dec 2022)

Exploring the Potential Use of Wearable Devices as a Prognostic Tool among Patients in Hospice Care

Yaoru Huang,
Muhammad Ashad Kabir,
Umashankar Upadhyay,
Eshita Dhar,
Mohy Uddin,
Shabbir Syed-Abdul

Affiliations

Yaoru Huang: Department of Radiation Oncology, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei 110, Taiwan
Muhammad Ashad Kabir: School of Computing, Mathematics and Engineering, Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, NSW 2795, Australia
Umashankar Upadhyay: Graduate Institute of Biomedical Informatics, College of Medical Science and Technology, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 106, Taiwan
Eshita Dhar: Graduate Institute of Biomedical Informatics, College of Medical Science and Technology, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 106, Taiwan
Mohy Uddin: Research Quality Management Section, King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Ministry of National Guard-Health Affairs, Riyadh 11481, Saudi Arabia
Shabbir Syed-Abdul: Graduate Institute of Biomedical Informatics, College of Medical Science and Technology, Taipei Medical University, Taipei 106, Taiwan

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina58121824
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 58, no. 12
p. 1824

Abstract

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Background: Smartphones and wearable devices have become a part and parcel of the healthcare industry. The use of wearable technology has already proved its potentials in improving healthcare research, clinical work, and patient care. The real time data allows the care providers to monitor the patients’ symptoms remotely, prioritize the patients’ visits, assist in decision-making, and carry out advanced care planning. Objectives: The primary objective of our study was to investigate the potential use of wearable devices as a prognosis tool among patients in hospice care and palliative care, and the secondary objective was to examine the association between wearable devices and clinical data in the context of patient outcomes, such as discharge and deceased at various time intervals. Methods: We employed a prospective observational research approach to continuously monitor the hand movements of the selected 68 patients between December 2019 and June 2022 via an actigraphy device at hospice or palliative care ward of Taipei Medical University Hospital (TMUH) in Taiwan. Results: The results revealed that the patients with higher scores in the Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS), and Palliative Performance Scale (PPS) tended to live at discharge, while Palliative Prognostic Score (PaP) and Palliative prognostic Index (PPI) also shared the similar trend. In addition, the results also confirmed that all these evaluating tools only suggested rough rather than accurate and definite prediction. The outcomes (May be Discharge (MBD) or expired) were positively correlated with accumulated angle and spin values, i.e., the patients who survived had higher angle and spin values as compared to those who died/expired. Conclusion: The outcomes had higher correlation with angle value compared to spin and ACT. The correlation value increased within the first 48 h and then began to decline. We recommend rigorous prospective observational studies/randomized control trials with many participants for the investigations in the future.

Published in Medicina

ISSN: 1010-660X (Print); 1648-9144 (Online)
Publisher: MDPI AG
Country of publisher: Switzerland
LCC subjects: Medicine: Medicine (General)
Website: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/medicina

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