Acceptability of continuous glucose monitoring in free-living healthy individuals: Implications for the use of wearable biosensors in diet and physical activity research

Yue Liao, Susan Schembre

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

28 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background: Wearable sensors have been increasingly used in behavioral research for real-time assessment and intervention purposes. The rapid advancement of biomedical technology typically used in clinical settings has made wearable sensors more accessible to a wider population. Yet the acceptability of this technology for nonclinical purposes has not been examined.Objective: The aim was to assess the acceptability of wearing a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) device among a sample of nondiabetic individuals, and to compare the acceptability of a CGM between a mobile diet tracking app (MyFitnessPal) and an accelerometer.Methods: A total of 30 nondiabetic adults went through a 7-day observational study. They wore a CGM sensor, tracked their diet and physical activity using the CGM receiver and MyFitnessPal, and wore an accelerometer on their waist. After the monitoring period, they completed a 10-item survey regarding acceptability of each of the study tools. Two-tailed paired-sample t tests were conducted to examine whether the summary acceptability scores were comparable between the CGM sensor/receiver and MyFitnessPal/accelerometer.Results: More than 90% of the study participants agreed that the CGM sensor and receiver were easy to use (28/30 and 27/30, respectively), useful (28/30 and 29/30, respectively), and provided relevant information that was of interest to them (27/30 and 28/30, respectively). The summary acceptability scores (out of a 5-point Likert scale) were mean 4.06 (SD 0.55) for the CGM sensor, mean 4.05 (SD 0.58) for the CGM receiver, mean 4.10 (SD 0.68) for MyFitnessPal, and mean 3.73 (SD 0.76) for the accelerometer.Conclusions: The high acceptability of using a CGM from this study suggests a great potential for using CGMs in nondiabetic adults in research settings. Although potential selection bias might contribute to the high acceptability in this study, the continued advancements in wearable sensor technology will make the barriers to tracking and collecting personal physiological data more and more minimal.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numbere11181
JournalJMIR mHealth and uHealth
Volume6
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2018

Keywords

  • Accelerometry
  • Physiological monitoring
  • Remote monitoring
  • User experience
  • Wearable sensors

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Health Informatics

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