Using passively collected sedentary behavior to predict hospital readmission

Hospital readmissions are a major problem facing health care systems today, costing Medicare alone US$26 billion each year. Being readmitted is associated with significantly shorter survival, and is often preventable. Predictors of readmission are still not well understood, particularly those under the patient's control: behavioral risk factors. Our work evaluates the ability of behavioral risk factors, specifically Fitbit-assessed behavior, to predict readmission for 25 postsurgical cancer inpatients. Our results show that sum of steps, maximum sedentary bouts, frequency, and low breaks in sedentary times during waking hours are strong predictors of readmission. We built two models for predicting readmissions: Steps-only and Behavioral model that adds information about sedentary behaviors. The Behavioral model (88.3%) outperforms the Steps-only model (67.1%), illustrating the value of passively collected information about sedentary behaviors. Indeed, passive monitoring of behavior data, i.e., mobility, after major surgery creates an opportunity for early risk assessment and timely interventions.