From Research to Application of Wearable-Derived Digital Health Measures—A Perspective From ActiGraph

Abstract

ActiGraph counts were first conceptualized in 1996 to provide an accelerometer-derived metric that can quantify physical activity based on intensity. ActiGraph incorporated this metric into its product suite, enabling its wide adoption in research studies. Over the last 20 years, ActiGraph activity counts have become one of the most common metrics and building blocks of health outcome measures used in wearable research, with >24,000 journal articles published (based on Google Scholar search in 2023). Recently, this field of research is increasingly moving toward clinical application where wearable-derived metrics are growing in industry-sponsored clinical trials, including several use cases endorsed by the regulatory authorities. We celebrate this emerging trend as these patient-generated measures help reduce trial burden and enhance the meaningfulness of developed medical products to the patients. However, true adoption of digital measures in industry research is only in its infancy and still faces many challenges. As a digital health technology provider, ActiGraph has launched several strategic initiatives to support the research community to overcome these challenges and accelerate the translation of research to clinical application. The open-source release of the ActiGraph count algorithm was one of those initiatives. In this commentary, we take the opportunity to share our perspective in supporting the research community with this metric over the last 20 years, the motivation for making this open source, and what we are building to accelerate clinical adoption and realize the promise of better patient care.