School of Nursing, Peking University, Beijing, China.
College of Nursing, Chungnam National University, Daejeon, Republic of Korea.
J Med Internet Res. 2024 Oct 22;26:e51291. doi: 10.2196/51291.
Physical inactivity is a global issue for cancer survivors. Wearable activity trackers are promising to address physical inactivity by providing real-time feedback on physical activity and offering opportunities for self-monitoring and goal setting. Meta-analysis has reported the effects of interventions that incorporate wearable activity trackers on improved physical inactivity and related health outcomes (eg, BMI, anxiety and depression, and self-rated health status). However, wearable activity trackers were often used as an adjunct to physical activity interventions, and the effectiveness of wearable activity trackers alone is unknown.
This study aims to determine the association of wearable activity trackers with physical activity and health outcomes in patients with cancer.
Data from 957 cancer survivors from the Health Information National Trends Survey-Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (HINTS-SEER) were analyzed. The outcome variables examined were time spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity, weekly frequency of strength training, BMI, anxiety and depression levels, and self-assessed health status. The primary independent variable was whether cancer survivors had used wearable activity trackers within the past 12 months. Design-based linear regression for continuous outcome variables and ordinal logistic regression for ordinal outcome variables were conducted to determine the associations after controlling for sociodemographic, cancer-related, and health-related factors. All data analyses accounted for the complex survey design and sample weights.
Only 29% of cancer survivors reported wearable activity tracker use. Bivariate analyses showed that younger age (P<.001), higher education (P=.04), higher income (P<.001), and an employed status (P<.001) were significantly associated with wearable activity tracker use. Wearable activity tracker use was significantly associated with higher time spent in moderate to vigorous physical activity (adjusted =37.94, 95% CI 8.38-67.5; P=.01), more frequent strength training per week (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 1.50, 95% CI 1.09-2.06; P=.01), and better self-rated health status (adjusted OR 1.58, 95% CI 1.09-2.29; P=.01), but not with BMI or anxiety and depression.
This study suggests that the uptake of wearable activity trackers is low and highlights the digital divide among patients with cancer. This study has confirmed the associations of wearable activity tracker use with physical activity and self-rated health, supporting using wearable activity trackers as a promising tool to facilitate physical activity promotion.
身体活动不足是癌症幸存者面临的全球性问题。可穿戴活动追踪器通过提供身体活动的实时反馈并提供自我监测和目标设定的机会，有望解决身体活动不足的问题。荟萃分析报告了将可穿戴活动追踪器纳入干预措施对改善身体活动不足和相关健康结果（例如 BMI、焦虑和抑郁以及自我评估的健康状况）的影响。然而，可穿戴活动追踪器通常被用作身体活动干预的辅助手段，单独使用可穿戴活动追踪器的效果尚不清楚。
本研究旨在确定可穿戴活动追踪器与癌症患者的身体活动和健康结果之间的关联。
对来自健康信息国家趋势调查-监测、流行病学和最终结果（HINTS-SEER）的 957 名癌症幸存者的数据进行了分析。检查的结果变量是中度到剧烈身体活动的时间、每周力量训练的频率、BMI、焦虑和抑郁水平以及自我评估的健康状况。主要的独立变量是癌症幸存者是否在过去 12 个月内使用过可穿戴活动追踪器。对连续结果变量进行基于设计的线性回归，对有序结果变量进行有序逻辑回归，以在控制社会人口统计学、癌症相关和健康相关因素后确定关联。所有数据分析均考虑了复杂的调查设计和样本权重。
只有 29%的癌症幸存者报告使用了可穿戴活动追踪器。双变量分析表明，年龄较小（P<.001）、受教育程度较高（P=.04）、收入较高（P<.001）和就业状态（P<.001）与可穿戴活动追踪器的使用显著相关。可穿戴活动追踪器的使用与较高的中高强度身体活动时间（调整后=37.94，95%CI 8.38-67.5；P=.01）、更频繁的每周力量训练（调整后优势比[OR]1.50，95%CI 1.09-2.06；P=.01）和更好的自我评估健康状况（调整后 OR 1.58，95%CI 1.09-2.29；P=.01）显著相关，但与 BMI 或焦虑和抑郁无关。
本研究表明，可穿戴活动追踪器的使用率较低，并强调了癌症患者之间的数字鸿沟。本研究证实了可穿戴活动追踪器使用与身体活动和自我评估健康之间的关联，支持将可穿戴活动追踪器作为促进身体活动的有前途的工具。
