Penn researchers discuss plans to gamify cardiovascular health using $25 million award

Penn researchers recently received a $25 million award to study the relationship between people’s step counts and cardiovascular health. 

The award, funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute, will support a new trial that builds on the results of the 2024 BE ACTIVE study by Penn’s Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics. The upcoming research seeks to evaluate whether increasing a person’s step count through gamification — a points-based system paired with behavioral reinforcement — reduces the risk of adverse cardiovascular events.

“It’s really challenging to get people to increase physical activity, and we don’t necessarily have good ways of doing it besides telling them to do it,” Penn Medicine professor and lead researcher Alexander Fanaroff said in an interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian.