Activity trackers hard to prescribe
Wednesday October 5th, 2016
Activity trackers, such as pedometers, are popular with some people - but they may not work as a "prescription" item, researchers warn today.
A
new study has found that cash incentives enourage patients to comply with
requests to use the devices - but the effects do not last.
Physical inactivity is an important risk factor for noncommunicable diseases, explain Professor Eric Finkelstein from Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore, and his team in today's (5 October) Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology.
"Wearable activity trackers have greatly enhanced our ability to track and potentially increase physical activity level," they write. "The affordability, ease of wear, and aesthetics of these devices have increased their popularity. One in ten US adults now owns an activity tracker."
Professor Finkelstein said today: "Activity trackers alone are not going to stem the rise in chronic diseases."
The researchers investigated whether use of activity trackers, alone or in combination with cash incentives or charitable donations, led to increases in physical activity and health outcomes.
They recruited 800 employees at 13 organisations in Singapore aged 21 to 65 years.
After six months, those given an activity tracker and a cash incentive logged an additional 29 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per week, compared with those given just a computer-based schedule.
Those given an activity tracker and a donation to charity of they moved more also did significantly more moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Those given no incentive with their activity tracker did not move more than the group given just a computer-based schedule.
Following this, the cash and charity incentives were removed. After a further six months, the increases in activity had disappeared. No improvements were seen in any health outcomes (body mass index, blood pressure, maximal oxygen uptake) at either time point.
The researchers say these results "call into question the value of these devices for health promotion". "Incentives would probably need to be in place long term," they conclude.
Finkelstein, E. A. et al. Effectiveness of activity trackers with and without incentives to increase physical activity (TRIPPA): a randomised controlled trial. Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology. 4 October 2016; doi.org/10.1016/S2213-8587(16)30284-4 [abstract]
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