Wearable Technology-A Pilot Study to Define "Normal" Postoperative Recovery Trajectories

Background: Emerging wearable technology has the potential to quantify both preoperative and postoperative patient activity. The purpose of this study was to characterize postoperative recovery trajectories for 1 mo after common surgical procedures.

Materials and methods: Patients included were scheduled for common elective operations. A wearable activity device was worn for at least 3 d preoperatively and 28 d postoperatively. Postoperative steps per day were compared with preoperative baseline steps, with recovery trajectories reported as a percentage of patients' baseline values. Recovery trajectories were compared between groups based on admission type and operation type.

Results: Two hundred ten patients were enrolled, and 143 patients (68%) completed follow-up. Patients took a median 5342 steps per day preoperatively and had significantly decreased steps on the first postoperative day, including those undergoing inguinal hernia repair (22% of baseline steps, P < 0.001). Four weeks postoperatively, steps per day had not returned to baseline in patients undergoing minimally invasive abdominal (88% of baseline, P = 0.035), open abdominal (64% of baseline, P = 0.002), and thoracic (32% of baseline, P = 0.002) operations. All groups of patients showed a rapid recovery of steps during the first postoperative week, followed by a slower return to baseline. Recovery trajectories differed based on both admission type and operation type.

Conclusions: Wearable activity monitors provide useful technology for quantification of postoperative activity recovery trajectories of steps per day in comparison to preoperative activity levels, with internal validity differentiating recovery trajectories grouping by broad categorization of operation type and by admission type. Activity recovery is a patient-centered outcome that can be used for counseling as well as for intervening to improve activity levels after surgery.