Wearable Device-Measured Daily Step Count is an Independent Predictor of Postoperative Surgical Complications Among All of Us Research Participants

Background The association between preoperative wearable device step counts and surgical outcomes has not been examined using commercial devices linked to electronic health records (EHR) at a population level. This study measured the association between daily preoperative step counts and postoperative complications. Study Design Data was obtained using the All of Us (AOU) Research program, a nationwide initiative to collect EHR and health-related data from the population. Included were patients who underwent a surgical procedure included in the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) targeted procedures dataset. Excluded were patients without complete perioperative FitBit data. Primary outcome was the development of a postoperative complication. All analyses were performed in the AOU researcher workbench. Results Of 27,150 patients who underwent a surgical procedure, 475 participants with preoperative wearable data were included. 74.7% were female and 85.2% were White. The average age was 57.2 years. The overall rate of postoperative complications was 12.6%. Patients averaging fewer than 7,500 daily steps were at increased odds for developing a postoperative complication (OR 1.83, 95% CI [1.01, 3.31]). Following adjustment for age, sex, race, comorbid disease, body mass index (BMI), and relative procedure risk, patients with a baseline average steps/day < 7,500 were at increased odds for postoperative complication (aOR = 2.06, 95% CI [1.05, 4.06]). Conclusions This study found an increase in overall postoperative complication rate in patients recording lower average preoperative step counts. Patients with a baseline of less than 7,500 steps per day had increased odds of postoperative complications in this cohort. This population data supports the use of wearable devices for surgical risk stratification and suggests step count may help to measure preoperative fitness. ### Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. ### Funding Statement This study was funded by UL1 TR001436 ### Author Declarations I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained. Yes I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals. Yes I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance). Yes I have followed all appropriate research reporting guidelines, such as any relevant EQUATOR Network research reporting checklist(s) and other pertinent material, if applicable. Yes All data produced in the present work are contained in the manuscript.