JMIR mHealth and uHealth最新文献

Background: The health impact of summer heat on older adults is a growing public concern, yet the physiological responses, particularly changes in resting heart rate (RHR), and the role of personal heat adaptation behaviors remain underexplored. Wearable devices offer an opportunity to objectively monitor physiological responses and evaluate the effectiveness of adaptation strategies in real-world settings.

Objective: This study aimed to quantify the short-term association between summer temperatures and RHR in older adults and to examine how individual heat adaptation behaviors modify this relationship, with additional consideration of personal characteristics such as age, sex, BMI, and chronic disease status.

Methods: We conducted a panel study among 83 community-dwelling older adults (≥65 y) in Taipei City during the summer of 2021 (May to September). Participants wore Garmin smartwatches to continuously monitor heart rate. Daily RHR was defined as the lowest 30-minute average heart rate. In September, heat adaptation behaviors were assessed via structured telephone interviews. Ambient temperature and relative humidity were obtained from a nearby monitoring station. Linear mixed-effect models were used to estimate temperature-RHR associations, and interaction terms were included to examine behavioral modifications. Subgroup analyses were conducted to explore effect modification by individual characteristics such as age, sex, BMI, and chronic disease status.

Results: Each 1 °C increase in daily mean temperature over lag days 0-1 was associated with a 0.11 (95% CI 0.07-0.15; P<.001) beats/min increase in RHR. After mutual adjustment for behaviors, several heat adaptation strategies showed significant protective effects, including reducing physical activity (β=-.15, P=.001), drinking cold beverages (β=-.24, P<.001), increasing naps or sleep duration (β=-.28, P=.003), drinking additional water ≥500 mL (β=-.10, P=.02), using air conditioner (AC) before (β=-.15, P=.002) and during sleep (β=-.13, P=.007), and using electric fans during sleep (β=-.12, P=.01). Subgroup analyses revealed stronger effects for certain behaviors in vulnerable populations: reduced physical activity was particularly beneficial for those with higher BMI; AC use and cold beverage intake were more effective in people with diabetes; increased naps yielded the largest benefits in individuals with hypertension; and the use of AC or fans during sleep was especially protective for older adults and females.

Conclusions: Summer heat is associated with elevated RHR in older adults, but this effect can be mitigated through targeted heat adaptation behaviors. Smartwatch monitoring provides a feasible and informative approach for capturing physiological changes, supporting the development of personalized heat-health recommendations for aging populations in a warming climate.

Background: Augmented reality (AR) superimposes virtual objects onto a real-world environment, allowing users to interact in real time. As AR has become widely used, its integration into smartphones or tablets has enabled mobile augmented reality (MAR) experiences. AR has been adopted in many industries, and the literature has highlighted its applications in academic and clinical settings, particularly in enhancing visualization, communication, and learning.

Objective: This study investigated the potential of MAR as a mobile health tool to enhance shared decision-making (SDM) in thoracic surgery by increasing patient understanding and engagement during medical consultations.

Methods: A randomized crossover clinical trial was conducted at the Tri-Service General Hospital in Taiwan. Participants scheduled for thoracic surgery were enrolled and randomized in a crossover design. The MAR intervention incorporated patient-specific 3D anatomical models that were reconstructed from computed tomography imaging to facilitate understanding and support SDM. The impact of each counseling approach on SDM was evaluated using postintervention questionnaires.

Results: A total of 47 participants were enrolled in this study. After analyzing the data, we found that patients in the MAR group showed significantly higher scores compared to those in the traditional counseling group (P<.001) during the SDM process. Moreover, patients reported higher satisfaction levels and found the visual objects helpful for understanding tumor location and surgical procedures.

Conclusions: This study demonstrated that MAR counseling significantly enhanced patients' comprehension of thoracic conditions and increased their active engagement in the SDM process (P<.001). The integration of patient-specific 3D anatomical models into MAR technology provided an intuitive method for critical medical information. This digital approach not only enhanced personalization in medical communication but also reinforced patient education about their health care conditions. These findings suggest that MAR counseling represents a promising approach for promoting patient-centered care in thoracic surgery and has potential applications across various clinical domains.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT07062393; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT07062393.

Background: Parkinson disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by motor and nonmotor symptoms that worsen over time, significantly impacting quality of life. While clinical evaluations such as the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) are standard for assessing disease severity, they offer somewhat limited temporal resolution and are susceptible to observer variability. Smartphone apps present a viable method for capturing detailed fluctuations in motor and vocal functions in real-world settings.

Objective: This study aimed to use a smartphone-based app to quantitatively evaluate the interaction effect between time and disease severity on motor and vocal symptoms in individuals with PD.

Methods: This was an exploratory, cross-sectional pilot study. Disease severity in persons with PD was assessed using the modified Hoehn & Yahr Scale, Voice Handicap Index, and UPDRS. We used a custom smartphone app to administer finger-tapping tasks, sustained phonation (/a/ and /i/), and rapid syllable repetition (/dadada/ and /pa-ta-ka/). The total tap counts, tap-to-tap variability, and vocal parameters (loudness, jitter, shimmer, repeat counts, and their variability) were analyzed. Each task was divided into 5 equal time frames to analyze performance changes over a short duration. Time-severity interactions were examined using linear mixed models.

Results: In total, 20 persons with PD and 20 healthy adults were included in this study. Persons with PD showed worse motor and vocal performance compared to healthy adults, with higher dysrhythmia; worse jitter, shimmer, and jitter and shimmer variability; and fewer repeat counts. During finger-tapping tasks, individuals with PD showed an earlier onset of dysrhythmia than their healthy counterparts. While a higher UPDRS part III score was associated with greater finger-tapping variability, there was no significant time-severity interaction for this motor task. However, linear mixed model analysis revealed significant time-severity interaction effects for vocal tasks, including /a/ loudness (P=.001), /a/ jitter (P=.01), /a/ shimmer (P=.001), /i/ loudness (P=.001), /i/ jitter (P<.001), /i/ shimmer (P<.001), and /pa-ta-ka/-variability (P=.04). This indicates that individuals with higher UPDRS part III scores experienced a more rapid decline in vocal control during the assessment period. All measured smartphone-based characteristics showed a significant correlation with UPDRS part III scores, with finger-tapping variability having the strongest correlation.

Conclusions: This study demonstrates that a smartphone-based assessment, conducted over just a few minutes, can detect subtle temporal changes in fine motor and vocal control. The app successfully captured the earlier onset of dysrhythmia in individuals with PD and, importantly, identified significant time-severity