I-Corps: Sensor-based frailty assessment tool using a smart watch

这个i-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发一种身体脆弱性评估技术。虚弱是一种衰老综合征，与器官和系统的低生理储备有关，并与住院风险、不良治疗结果、残疾和死亡率增加有关。这项技术的拟议应用是对住院和社区居住的老年人进行风险分层，并将通过智能手表和智能手机在5分钟内测量脆弱程度。监测技术，如拟议的脆弱性评分，有可能改善老年人的安全，管理他们的健康，并帮助他们保持独立性。此外，这些技术通过增强提供者在需要紧急护理的患者恶化之前提供及时干预的能力，有望为医疗保健系统节省大量成本。这个i-Corps项目基于一种新的基于客观传感器的脆弱性评估工具的开发。在这个脆弱的工具中，第一次不是评估基本静息状态下生理系统的特征，而是使用挑衅性的物理应激测试来量化心脏和运动系统内和之间的生理储备水平。生物力学方法，包括肌肉模型和心率动力学分析，将被用来描述运动和心脏系统的行为。此外，所提出的技术可用于通过在应激-反应模型中对运动和心率行为的状态空间重建来评估运动和心脏系统之间的动态交互作用。该测试需要60秒进行(重复和快速屈肘)，并可以在测试后立即提供脆弱分数。建议的方法已经使用综合脆弱性评估方法进行了横断面验证，该方法耗时45-60分钟，纵向基于不良的医院/治疗结果、再入院和死亡率。除了基于传感器的脆弱性评分外，这项技术已经从更昂贵的设备转变为简单的智能手表平台。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a technology for physical frailty assessment. Frailty is an aging syndrome related to low physiological reserves in organs and systems and is associated with increased risk of hospitalization, adverse therapy outcomes, disability, and mortality. The proposed application of the technology is to risk stratify hospitalized and community dwelling older adults and will be implemented through a smartwatch and smartphone to measure frailty in under 5 minutes. Monitoring technologies, such as the proposed frailty score, have the potential to improve older people’s safety, manage their health and assist them in maintaining their independence. Additionally, these technologies hold the promise of enormous cost savings for the healthcare system by enhancing the ability of providers to provide timely intervention prior to a patient’s deterioration requiring acute care.This I-Corps project is based on the development of a novel objective sensor-based frailty assessment tool. In this frailty tool, for the first time, instead of assessing characteristics of physiological systems in basal resting-state conditions, a provocative physical stress test will be employed to quantify the level of physiological reserve within and across cardiac and motor systems. Biomechanics approaches including muscle model and heart rate dynamics analysis will be used to characterize motor and cardiac system behaviors. In addition, the proposed technology may be used to assess dynamic interactions between the motor and cardiac systems using state space reconstruction of motor and heart rate behaviors within the stress-response model. The test takes 60 seconds to perform (repetitive and fast elbow flexion) and can provide the frailty score immediately after the test. The proposed approach has been validated cross-sectionally using comprehensive frailty assessment approaches that take 45-60 minutes and longitudinally based on adverse hospital/treatment outcomes, readmission, and mortality. In addition to the sensor-based frailty score, the technology has been transformed from more expensive equipment to a simple smartwatch platform.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.