Use of Smartphone Activity Data to Monitor and Identify Trends in Recovery After Breast Reduction Surgery

Current methods for assessing outcomes after bilateral breast reduction (BBR) include traditional metrics (length of stay, morbidity, and mortality), and more recently, patient-reported outcome measures. These can be limited by subjectivity and poor granularity. Postoperative physical activity collected from patients' smartphones has since been validated as an objective measure of recovery. This study aims to investigate recovery after BBR using this novel outcome measure.

A single-center, retrospective cohort analysis was conducted of patients who had undergone BBR surgery at Imperial College NHS Healthcare Trust from August 2021 to February 2024. A smartphone application was used to retrospectively gather physical activity data from patients covering 1 month preoperatively to 6 months postoperatively. Data were analyzed to provide the time taken to return to 90% of preoperative activity levels, as well as daily activity patterns.

Fifty-six patients undergoing breast reduction were recruited. Postoperative recovery data were used to plot novel recovery curves, whereby the average return to baseline activity was 33.5 days. The only patient or surgical factor found to be a predictor of recovery was the weight of tissue removed, correlating negatively with activity levels in the first 2 weeks (P = 0.027). Daily activity patterns revealed clear changes in behavior over time, providing novel insight into return to work.

Activity data from patients' smartphones enhance our ability to investigate postoperative recovery with unique detail. Integration of these data alongside traditional measures could help to better inform patients and clinicians regarding recovery, outcomes, and funding decisions in this cohort.