Establishing objective markers of physical activity to identify early improvement after lumbar spine surgery

Despite growing interest in using biometric measures as objective tools to monitor recovery after spine surgery, there is sparse guidance on appropriate thresholds to evaluate perioperative changes in these domains. The authors defined thresholds of activity and heart rate (HR) measures that mark improved early recovery and evaluated their association with longer-term surgical outcomes.

A prospective observational cohort study recruited patients undergoing elective surgery for lumbar degenerative spine disease at a single institution from February 2021 to June 2023. Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) were collected preoperatively and at 1 month and 6 months after surgery. The authors evaluated 50 metrics of physical fitness available on Fitbit fitness trackers that assessed activity amount, activity intensity, and physiological status based on the responsiveness of each after surgery and correlation with clinical metrics. Anchor-based methods were used to calculate Fitbit metric cutoffs that delineated clinical improvement, with Patient-Reported Outcome Measurement Information System physical function (PF) and pain interference scores used as anchors at 1 month postoperatively. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed to identify optimal thresholds. Six-month clinical outcomes were compared between patient groups based on the newly defined Fitbit metric cutoffs. Multivariable regression, with 6-month PROMs as the dependent variable, were used to control for clinical confounders.

Sixty-two patients (mean age 62 [SD 12] years, 33 [53%] female) were included. PROMs at 6 months were significantly improved for all variables. Among 50 candidate Fitbit metrics, 4 were selected: active time (cutoff: 7.6% decrease, area under the ROC curve [AUC] 0.71), daily steps (cutoff: 1.55 steps/min decrease, AUC 0.70), time spent moving at ≥ 40 steps/min (cutoff: 0.7% decrease, AUC 0.67), and HR stability (cutoff: 15% increase, AUC 0.72). When separating patients into groups based on newly defined Fitbit cutoffs, these Fitbit metrics had at least one significant association with 6-month PROMs. These measures improved predictions of 6-month outcomes based on R2 and, except for daily steps, remained statistically significant on multivariable regression.

By monitoring the dynamic nature of a patient's PF through wearable trackers, clinicians can gain valuable insights into functional recovery that can complement traditional PROMs. The cutoffs derived from this study can potentially serve as important benchmarks for future studies examining physiological markers of surgical recovery.