CHIBE researchers awarded $25 million to fight heart disease through fitness trackers and behavioral economics tools

What is the trial:

This will be the largest-ever study testing approaches to increase physical activity using smartphone fitness trackers gamification and behavioral economics techniques to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Who is involved:

CHIBE researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Ascension, one of the nation’s leading nonprofit health systems.

What will the patient population look like:

This trial will have 18,000 adults who have at least a 1-in-10 chance of having a heart attack, stroke, hospitalization for heart failure, or dying from heart disease within the next decade.

What will the participants do in the study?

Participants’ step count will be tracked for 2 weeks for a baseline.

Then, they will have a goal set to increase their steps by 33% to 50% above their baseline.

Using behavioral economics techniques, the participants will be entered into a game where they win or lose points depending on whether they met their goal.

Participants will get a text message each day letting them know if they met their goal or not, and they can move up and down different levels of a game.

For accountability, a support partner that the participant chooses will also get weekly updates on how the participant is doing.

Who is funding it:

This 6-year study is funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI).

What does this work build on:

This trial will build on the BE ACTIVE trial, which found that financial incentives and gamification elements helped increase physical activity in patients who have encountered a serious heart problem in the past or who have a high risk of serious heart problems. Read more about that trial here.

Potential impact:

“Results from this landmark trial have the potential to transform cardiovascular prevention guidelines, reduce mortality, improve quality of life, and dramatically lower health care costs,” said Dr. Alexander Fanaroff in a Penn press release.