(P10-020-23) An Observational Study Using Mobile Health and Precision Health Technologies To Examine Lifestyle Behaviors of Health Care Professionals

Objectives: Healthcare workforce resilience was weakened during and after the pandemic due to high levels of stress and COVID-19 illness. Nutrition, physical activity, and sleep deficits further diminish health status. Providing just-in-time resources may promote healthier behaviors. We had two study aims: 1) coach healthcare professionals (HCPs) to make lifestyle changes that enhance immune health, and 2) compare high and low adopters of toolkit resources on achieving recommendations for cardiometabolic wellness.

Methods: In this 1-year prospective observational study, subjects had password-protected access to a dashboard for a wellness video, health messages, and personal data tracking, and were given a wearable activity tracker. We defined high adopters as those who wore the tracker at least 70% of the time, achieved 7000 steps/day, and slept 7 hours/day. We administered work, diet, and sleep questionnaires at 4 time points. Body composition, biomarkers, and gene expression were measured at 3 time points. On a custom panel of 803 genes, 45 linking host response to nutrients were isolated for correlational analyses with lifestyle behaviors.

Results: 104 HCPs (72% female, mean age 42) enrolled between July – October 2021. At both 6 and 12 months, 60% of subjects were high adopters for device-wear and daily steps. At 12 months, daily distance declined significantly by 1.2 (SD 2.0) miles, p < .001 and steps significantly declined by 1970 (SD 2745) daily, p < .001; sleep was unchanged. Thirteen genes had a significant moderate correlation with steps (.29 - .37), sleep (.27 - .37), distance (.28), and Insomnia Severity Index (.30 - .38), p < .05 for all. Upon completion, subjects gave low ratings to dashboard resources, VAS score 1.8 of 4.0 overall. Biomarker analysis and activity tracker received higher ratings with VAS scores 3.4 and 3.2 of 4.0, respectively. Cardiometabolic health (BP, BMI, body fat) exceeded evidence-based thresholds for over 30% of the cohort at 12 months.

Conclusions: Wearing a fitness tracker raised awareness for steps and sleep for the first 6 months, but not the following. The long-term health of HCPs remains threatened unless leaders invest in strategies that support healthful nutrition, regular activity, sufficient sleep, and resources that are necessary to optimize wellness and job performance.

Funding Sources: TriService Nursing Research Program Grant