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Introduction
Physical activity (PA) trackers are a pervasive feature of modern life. It is expected that by 2020, sales of wearable devices will reach approximately 300 million users1 many with the intention of increasing activity by tracking daily step count and other measures of PA. We assessed whether self-regulated use of a commercial PA tracker without prescribed goals improved (1) PA, (2) cardiometabolic (CM) risk factors or (3) subjective health status (SHS).
Methods
We recruited 431 healthy, mostly white (59%) male (61%) volunteers aged 41±9 years (mean±SD), body mass index (BMI) 28±6 kg/m2 (23.6% obese) from a common worksite in North America to wear a commercial PA tracker for 6 months. Behaviour and PA change goals were not prescribed. Participants did not receive any compensation but kept the PA tracker at study completion. The wrist-worn PA tracker (Basis Peak) incorporated standard technology including an optical sensor and 3-axes accelerometer and was synchronised to participants’ mobile devices enabling them to follow their PA. Raw accelerometer data from the PA tracker was collected and compiled by …
Footnotes
Contributors LJB had full access to all the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. SST, MN, JL, NFF, JC, AN contributed substantially in the study design or data acquisition and analyses,drafting the manuscript for intellectual consent an approving the final version. All authors take accountability for the integrity of this work.
Funding SST is supported by HL-F32HL131308. The research was funded by Intel Corporation.
Disclaimer The findings and conclusions of this study are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of Intel Corporation, OHSU or the NHLBI.
Competing interests AN is an employee of Intel Corporation. No conflicts of interest otherwise noted.
Ethics approval Western Institutional Review Board.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
Data sharing statement This research is covered by a data sharing agreement between Oregon Health Science University and Intel Corporation.