Quantifying Fatigue in Cancer Patients Using Smart Bracelet Devices

Cancer related fatigue (CRF) is defined as a multi-dimensional phenomenon with progressive and continuous decline of energy, mental power and psychological status. The incidence rate of CRF ranged from 60 to 90% in cancer patients. Fatigue is often associated with the symptoms of depression, pain, insomnia, anxiety, etc. These symptoms escalate the tired feelings of the patients. In addition, fatigue limits patient’ daily activity, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, which causes a full range of influences on quality of life. Thus, management of CRF is essential during cancer treatment. The clinical guidelines suggest routine measurement of CRF. Currently, fatigue is normally measured through subjective reporting. Because no objective and easy to use measuring method is currently available, fatigue is easily avoided during care period and thus affects patient’s quality of life. Fatigue may present as decayed physiology and thus may be measured directly through devices in addition to self-assessed subjective reporting. This industry-university cooperative project will be carried by the Taipei Medical University - School of Nursing, Hungkuang University – Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, Gadgle Creative Technology Company, Taipei Medical University Hospital, and Taipei Municipal Wanfang Hospital. Subjective and objective fatigue measurements will be conducted during this 1-year development period. The Taipei Medical University will be responsible for the submission of institutional review board and the collection of patient data, the Hungkuang University will be responsible for program designs, the Gadgle Creative Technology Company will supply the wristband and integrate the algorithms, and the Taipei Medical University Hospital and Wanfang Municipal Hospital will coordinate and provide the experimental sites. This project expects to enroll 60 cancer patients and their subjective-objective measurements on fatigue, stress, and total steps will be validated so that the information can be used in further care and improvement of life of quality of the patients.