Maya project: Innovative and disruptive technologies to prescribe, encourage and evaluate the use of physical activity

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases represent one of the leading causes of death related to non-communicable diseases. One of the factors that significantly impact this number is the lack of engagement in activities related to prevention-focused on risk groups for the development of cardiovascular diseases, as well as the monitoring of the treatment cycle of patients with cardiovascular diseases already diagnosed. The effective use of exercise prescription for the rehabilitation of patients with cardiovascular diseases significantly improves the quality of life and reduces mortality rates. Unfortunately, promoting adherence to exercise prescriptions by users is a complicated task. In this sense, the development of strategies to increase adherence and consequently, the time of physical activity of the population as a whole, as well as of those individuals with chronic diseases, becomes a fundamental goal for the population's health. Such strategies are of pivotal importance for the collective health system with the coverage of a vast population such as the Brazilian Sistema Unico de Saúde (SUS). Also, from a socio-economic point of view, it is essential to identify ways to improve the health conditions of people with cardiovascular diseases through the prevention of such diseases. Among the countless aspects involved in physical inactivity, three of them can be considered essential and changeable: (I) monitoring and adequate prescription of exercise intensity; (II) implementation of new technologies that can be used to perform physical activities; (III) the motivation to perform physical activity. Several recent technological advances may represent an improvement in the monitoring and prescription of physical activity. Among these new technologies are low-cost wearable sensor technologies (e.g., through the use of disposable devices and produced on 3D printers); and gamification (i.e., the use of game elements in non-game related activities, creating challenges and rewards relevant to the context, and increasing the motivation of participants). Such technologies can be integrated to provide biofeedback on the prescribed physical activities, which can be accessed by smartphone applications or for information processing. Finally, because sensitive data are produced with these technologies, information security mechanisms are needed to restrict access to such data. Such tools must be user friendly, scalable, and non-intrusive to the user. New technologies, such as cardiac biometrics and blockchain, can be used to guarantee these properties in information security mechanisms. The general objective of the MAYA project is to develop and implement innovative, disruptive, safe, and low-cost technologies to increase adherence to prescribed physical activities and monitor the response of physiological variables, during physical activities for the prevention and rehabilitation of cardiovascular diseases, which have a high cost for SUS. Such technologies must be flexible to be used both in hospital environments and in Basic Health Units (UBS). The MAYA project proposes to overcome this challenge through three integrated approaches: (I) the use of applications with a gamification system to increase adherence during the performance of prescribed exercises; (II) the use of a biofeedback system to monitor the prescribed physical activities; and (III) implant and test, at the Santa Casa de Misericórdia in Porto Alegre, a prototype with gamification that considers a biofeedback system to carry out prevention and rehabilitation exercises. (AU)