Using the vívofit 4 to Investigate the Impact of Maintenance Therapy on Exercise for Cancer Patients
A study of ovarian cancer patients, carried out by the North Eastern German Society for Gynaecologic Oncology (NOGGO eV), is investigating the efficacy of maintenance therapy with a PARP inhibitor and its impact on the activity levels of patients. Using the vívofit® 4 fitness tracker to collect vital participant health and fitness data, researchers hope to establish whether there is a connection between cancer treatment and exercise, and how this may influence recovery.
Ovarian cancer ranks fifth in cancer deaths among women, and efforts are constantly being made to find better, more effective treatments to improve survival rates. Researchers continue to test new treatments and therapies as well as their interactions with each other. As more practitioners prescribe sport and exercise regimens, the MAMOC1 study — a phase III, randomised, placebo-controlled study2 — will help researchers better understand how other treatments impact the effectiveness of exercise.
Studying the Impact of Maintenance Therapy
The MAMOC study will investigate the use of the PARP inhibitor as subsequent maintenance therapy following platinum-containing chemotherapy. (Maintenance therapy is the treatment given to patients after surgery and/or chemotherapy to prevent the cancer from returning.) In addition to determining the safety and efficacy of the PARP inhibitor following the use of a cytostatic drug, the study will look at how treatment side effects such as fatigue and sleep disturbances impact the daily activity of patients.
Wearing a Garmin vívofit 4 fitness tracker, 190 participants will record their step count before, during and after therapy. The collected data is synced at regular intervals into the Fitrockr portal via the Garmin Health SDK, making it accessible to the research team. While other metrics will be collected from the device and stored, only daily steps and sleep phases will be analysed initially.
Improving Therapy for Ovarian Cancer
The findings from this research will hopefully be useful in adapting the type, timing and measurement of different treatments. Examples of this could include using sports sessions to combat fatigue, light therapy to combat sleep disturbances or adjusting the timing of medication to help limit the impact of drug side effects.
NOGGO chose Garmin and Fitrockr based on recommendations and positive brand awareness. They received constructive support from both during the selection interviews.
About Fitrockr and Garmin Health
Fitrockr is a product suite of Digital Rebels GmbH — a software company based in Berlin. Its research and analytics platform allows organisations to easily manage and synchronise Garmin smartwatches with access to high-resolution raw data, independent hosting, real-time data streams, and direct analysis and export. Fitrockr is one of the deepest integrated technology implementations of the Garmin Health API and SDK, providing Garmin Health corporate solutions since 2018.
For more information, visit Fitrockr at www.fitrockr.com or learn more about Garmin Health Enterprise Health Solutions at www.garmin.com/health.
Want to learn more about related projects? Then visit www.garmin.com/third-party-studies-overview for more information.
1MAMOC stands for: Rucaparib Maintenance After Bevacizumab Maintenance Following Carboplatin Based First Line Chemotherapy in Ovarian Cancer Patients
