Portable health technology follows more than your steps these days.
Researchers from the University of Texas in Arlington are launching a two -year study to explore whether data from daily fitness trackers can help predict the risk of a person to develop cardiovascular disease. Supported by a $ 400,000 subsidy from Texas Higher Education Coordination Board, the study officially started on August 1 and will use commercial available portable devices to monitor physical activity, sleep and blood pressure.
Yue Liao, assistant professor of Kinesiology of UTA, directs the study with the co-researchers Christine Spadola, assistant professor of social work; Souvik Roy, associate professor of mathematics; And Matthew Brothers, professor of kinesiology.
We focus on physical activity, sleep and blood pressure of all this data to see if we can use advanced mathematical modeling to predict the risk of cardiovascular disease of a person or a vascular dysfunction. We want to see if we can detect the first signs of cardiovascular disease to intervene earlier with lifestyle changes. “”
Dr. Yue Liao, assistant professor of Kinesiology of UTA
A key objective of the study is sleep of sleep, often neglected by cardiovascular health. Researchers aim to analyze how sleep affects energy levels, physical activity and organ function overnight, using this information on data to deepen the understanding of cardiovascular risk.
“We do not only measure the stages or the duration of the sleep,” said Liao, “but also continuous markers such as heart rate and blood pressure during sleep to detect health risks. »»
Adding Dr. Spadola: “I can’t wait to interpret sleep data in a way that significantly reflects the lived experiences of the participants. »»
Among the objectives of the study, there is to develop an automatic learning model that uses portable sensor data to go beyond the basic monitoring of physical condition.
“The typical diagnosis of cardiovascular disease occurs after symptoms appear when it is already too late,” said Liao. “But now we have laptops that can continuously monitor daily activities such as sleep and blood pressure. We want to use this data to detect early trends or dysfunction signals. »»
Liao stressed that the study is based on available commercial devices, which makes the approach more accessible to the general public than many traditional research tools. In addition, as portable devices can capture a wide range of vascular health data, participants may not need to undergo complex laboratory assessments.
“The objective is to possibly detect vascular malfunction using only portable data,” she said.
