• Spanish researchers from the European consortium CLARIFY measure cancer patients quality of life with wearable devices

• The research has collected sleep and circadian rhythms data from 112 lung cancer patients

According to a recent publication in the Journal of Thoracic Oncology from the European project CLARIFY, sleep disorders, inactivity or little light exposure are some of the factors that affect cancer patients quality of life. CLARIFY researchers belonging to the Hospital Puerta de Hierro-Majadahonda, the Spanish company Kronohealth, the Politécnica University of Madrid and the Nova de Lisboa Universty have monitored patients with wearable devices.

A watch-like wearable device (“Kronowise 3.0” by Kronohealth SL, Spain) was placed in the patient’s wrist for a whole week, registering 24h a day, temperature, physical activity, and light exposure. Participants were patients diagnosed with lung cancer from Hospital Puerta de Hierro-Majadahonda. From a total of 112 participating patients, 25% had a localized disease and 75% had been diagnosed with metastatic disease. “From every monitoring, more than 1.000.000 data records are being analyzed, and more than 130 indicators are obtained. Preliminary results suggest that the device detects sleep disorders, inactivity, and other factors that could influence the quality of life” explains Manuel Campos, one the Kronohealth experts.

Furthermore, as stated by Dr. María Torrente from the Hospital Puerta de Hierro-Majadahonda, “physical, emotional, and clinical interventions will be designed according to the results obtained in order to improve quality of life during and after cancer treatment, increasing the patient’s reassessment support care”.

Lung cancer and quality of life
Lung cancer patients’ survival has dramatically improved in the past years due to early diagnosis and personalized treatments. Nevertheless, lung cancer patients experience mid and long term health problems that can lead to a diminished quality of life that could negatively affect prognosis and survivorship. In this sense, CLARIFY´s objective is to identify those patients with a higher risk of a reduced quality of life by using wearable devices.

About CLARIFY
CLARIFY is a research project funded by the European Commission´s Research and Innovation Programme, H2020. Its main goal is to identify risk factors that affect cancer patients´ quality of life after the oncological treatment by using Big Data and Artificial Intelligence. CLARIFY brings together the experience of 12 partners from five different European countries to develop an innovative platform that will support clinicians in decision-making and improve the follow up of cancer survivors.