Understanding patterns of fatigue in health and disease: protocol for an ecological momentary assessment study using digital technologies.

Adam, Rosalind, Lotankar, Yojana, Sas, Corina, Powell, Daniel, Martinez, Veronica, Green, Stephen, Cooper, Jonathan, Bradbury, Katherine, Sive, Jonathan and Hill, Derek L. 2024. Understanding patterns of fatigue in health and disease: protocol for an ecological momentary assessment study using digital technologies. BMJ Open. 14 (5) e081416. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-081416

TitleUnderstanding patterns of fatigue in health and disease: protocol for an ecological momentary assessment study using digital technologies.
TypeJournal article
AuthorsAdam, Rosalind, Lotankar, Yojana, Sas, Corina, Powell, Daniel, Martinez, Veronica, Green, Stephen, Cooper, Jonathan, Bradbury, Katherine, Sive, Jonathan and Hill, Derek L.
AbstractIntroduction: Fatigue is prevalent across a wide range of medical conditions and can be debilitating and distressing. It is likely that fatigue is experienced differently according to the underlying aetiology, but this is poorly understood. Digital health technologies present a promising approach to give new insights into fatigue.The aim of this study is to use digital health technologies, real-time self-reports and qualitative interview data to investigate how fatigue is experienced over time in participants with myeloma, long COVID, heart failure and in controls without problematic fatigue. Objectives are to understand which sensed parameters add value to the characterisation of fatigue and to determine whether study processes are feasible, acceptable and scalable.Methods and analysisAn ecological momentary assessment study will be carried out over 2 or 4 weeks (participant defined). Individuals with fatigue relating to myeloma (n=10), heart failure (n=10), long COVID (n=10) and controls without problematic fatigue or a study condition (n=10) will be recruited. ECG patches will measure heart rate variability, respiratory rate, body temperature, activity and posture. A wearable bracelet accompanied by environment beacons will measure physical activity, sleep and room location within the home. Self-reports of mental and physical fatigue will be collected via smartphone app four times daily and on-demand. Validated fatigue and affect questionnaires will be completed at baseline and at 2 weeks. End-of-study interviews will investigate experiences of fatigue and study participation. A feedback session will be offered to participants to discuss their data.Data will be analysed using multilevel modelling and machine learning. Interviews and feedback sessions will be analysed using content or thematic analyses.Ethics and disseminationThis study was approved by the East of England-Cambridge East Research Ethics Committee (22/EE/0261). The results will be disseminated in peer-reviewed journals and at international conferences.Trial registration numberNCT05622669.
KeywordsFatigue
information technology
Heart Failure
myeloma
Patient Reported Outcome Measures
Post-Acute Covid-19 Syndrome
Humans
Multiple Myeloma
Research Design
Self Report
Ecological Momentary Assessment
Wearable Electronic Devices
COVID-19
SARS-CoV-2
Digital Technology
Article numbere081416
JournalBMJ Open
Journal citation14 (5)
ISSN2044-6055
Year2024
PublisherBMJ
Publisher's version
License
CC BY 4.0
File Access Level
Open (open metadata and files)
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-081416
PubMed ID38802273
Publication dates
Published online27 May 2024
Published in print01 May 2024
ProjectSCAF/18/02
EP/W003228/1
FunderChief Scientist Office
EPSRC
LicenseCC BY
Filebmjopen-2023-081416.pdf

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“A Switch Went off in my Whole Body”: Lived Experiences of Fatigue and Post-Exertional Malaise in Long Covid
Corina Sas, Yojana Lotankar, Rosalind Adam, Katherine J Bradbury, Jonathan Cooper, Derek L Hill, Veronica Martinez and Daniel Powell 2023. “A Switch Went off in my Whole Body”: Lived Experiences of Fatigue and Post-Exertional Malaise in Long Covid. 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. Hamburg, Germany 23 - 28 Apr 2023 Association for Computing Machinery (ACM). https://doi.org/10.1145/3544549.3585846

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