Fitness trackers motivate cancer survivors to exercise more

Cancer survivors who use wearable activity trackers (WATs) tend to meet physical activity (PA) recommendations more often, according to a recent study.

“When examining clusters of motivation, survivors who reported previous WAT use were more likely to report being motivated to exercise by a mix of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, including internal guilt, exercise enjoyment, and physical appearance,” the researchers said. “Given the health benefits of PA for cancer survivors, technology-focused interventions that use WATs and target exercise motivation may aid in cancer survivors meeting the level of recommended PA.”

Deriving data from the US’s Health Information National Trends Survey, the researchers looked at the frequency of and motivations for exercise among 608 cancer survivors (mean age 66.9±12.1 years, 54.9 percent women). Use of WAT devices, as well as basic demographic information, was also included in the analysis. The outcome was associations among these factors.

Most (67.9 percent) of the participants fell short of the weekly PA recommendation of ≥150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA), with nearly half (49.9 percent) engaging in only 0–74 minutes of MVPA per week. A fifth (20.9 percent) reported using WAT devices in the past month. [JMIR Cancer 2021;7:e24828]

Multivariable logistic regression modeling showed that cancer survivors who used WATs were 65-percent more likely to meet weekly PA recommendations than comparators who did not use these devices (odds ratio [OR], 1.65, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.03–2.65; p=0.04).

Similarly, fulfilling MVPA guidelines was more likely among those who had lower body mass index (OR, 0.92, 95 percent CI, 0.89–0.96; p<0.001), had higher household income (USD ≥200,000 vs 0–35,000: OR, 2.62, 95 percent CI, 1.11–6.19; p=0.03), and had better general health (fair/poor vs excellent: OR, 0.18, 95 percent CI, 0.07–0.44; p<0.001).

WAT device use was affected by several factors, including age, income, and overall health. Exercise motivation also played a role, such that participants who did not report internal guilt as a driving force for PA were 73-percent less likely to use a WAT (OR, 0.27, 95 percent CI, 0.14–0.54; p<0.001).

Further clustering the survivors according to their motivations showed that WAT use was nearly five times higher among participants who said they enjoyed exercising and felt additionally motivated by their physical appearance and guilt (OR, 4.5, 95 percent CI, 2.1–9.7; p<0.001).

The present findings provide “insights on not only how one motivation but how a confluence of motivations was found to be associated with reporting previous WAT use for tracking health goals among a cohort of cancer survivors,” the researchers said.

“The results of this study can aid in identifying which cancer survivors are more or less likely to use WATs and the potential underlying motivations and behaviour regulations that are associated with their use,” they added.