AFAR- Accelerometers For Assessing Recovery

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Accelerometers For Assessing Recovery- can an accelerometer be used as an objective, patient–centered, endpoint tool for measuring recovery from anaesthesia in the natural environment; a pilot study for SWARM (South West Anaesthesia Research Matrix)

• IRAS ID

  248790

• Contact name

  Gary Minto

• Contact email

  gary.minto@nhs.net

• Sponsor organisation

  University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust

• Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier

  0000, 0000

• Duration of Study in the UK

  1 years, 0 months, 1 days

• Research summary

  "Endpoints to characterise the success of anaesthesia and perioperative care" are a national research priority. Mobilisation, sleep patterns and validated quality of recovery questionnaires are ways of measuring recovery after an operation,but can be time-consuming or subject to recall bias. In daily life many individuals wear devices (“accelerometers”) that monitor activity (eg Fitbit
  TM). We plan to investigate whether devices of this type can be used to measure recovery.

  This is a collaboration between SWARM (SouthWest Anaesthesia Research Matrix) and OpenLab computer science researchers at Newcastle University , developers of the Axivity AX3 accelerometer.

  AIMS

  •To investigate the feasibility of using accelerometers to track recovery after day case surgery
  • To gain experience with this technology
  •To test a methodology that could be deployed at scale across a research network

  METHODOLOGY

  Adult patients for day case surgery will be recruited at two SWARM hospital sites (UHPNT & RCHT) for 6 months or until 50 patients have been recruited.

  The accelerometer is worn for three “Wear Periods” of 7 days; before the operation (baseline activity), after the operation (recovery), and at 3 months (full recovery).

  OUTCOMES

  OpenLab collaborators use raw movement data from the Axivity AX3 device to quantify movement;
  • step count
  • Activity intensity
  • sleep
  • energy expenditure
  • Proportion of active time
  • character of activity

  We will assess the above measures in terms of “reliability and responsiveness”, (eg ability to detect a reduction in activity after an operation compared to baseline activity), to generate a recovery profile.
  “Acceptability” and “feasibility” will be evaluated from feedback, recruitment and dropout rate, device return rate, and proportion of usable data.
  In period 2 "Validity" will be explored by comparing AX3 profile with daily QoR-15 questionnaire administered by telephone

  This is a pilot. The results from this study will inform future research projects; we believe this tool may have utility to be used at scale to test the effect of interventions.

• REC name

  West Midlands - Solihull Research Ethics Committee

• REC reference

  18/WM/0246

• Date of REC Opinion

  8 Oct 2018

• REC opinion

  Further Information Favourable Opinion