Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla, are conducting a pilot study of ActiGraph’s CentrePoint Data Hub in a sample of participants enrolled in an ongoing cancer quality-of-life study. ActiGraph provides wearable activity and sleep monitoring solutions for the global scientific community. The company’s new CentrePoint Data Hub is a home-based cellular communication device that provides the Moffitt research team with an opportunity to remotely monitor the real-world physical activity and sleep behavior of study participants.

Headed by Heather Jim, PhD, from Moffitt’s Health Outcomes & Behavior Program, the pilot study involves a subset of participants from an ongoing study that includes physical activity and sleep assessments using ActiGraph activity monitors. Participants in the pilot were also given a CentrePoint Data Hub, which is placed in the home and uses Bluetooth and cellular technologies to automatically upload activity monitor data to the CentrePoint software system each day. Jim and her team can login to the system to view daily information about participant wear compliance, physical activity, and sleep behavior.

“We’ve used ActiGraph activity monitors at Moffitt for several years, and having the ability to view participant data while the device is still in the field is a really exciting development,” says Jim in a release. “Missing data is always a concern in any research study, but with this new technology, we can see when a volunteer isn’t wearing their activity monitor, and we can reach out with a reminder before the data collection opportunity has passed.”

Moffitt Cancer Center joins several other academic research organizations and clinical innovation groups that have deployed the CentrePoint Data Hub to obtain actionable, real-world data without adding unnecessary technical burden to study participants and research personnel.

“Because the CentrePoint Data Hub pushes data to the cloud via cellular network, our clients can avoid in-home technology issues associated with smartphone apps, subject training on those apps, and the various operating systems out there,” says Matt Biggs, ActiGraph’s vice president of account services and named accounts. “The less burdensome and more efficient we can make our products, the better we’ll be able to help with adoption,” Biggs says. “We’re encouraged to see Dr Jim’s team at Moffitt, and others, really embrace this new technology as a way to improve their research capabilities and efficiency.”