Cognitive-motor dual-task interference in adults with sickle cell disease.

BACKGROUND: Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a genetic disorder that causes physical and cognitive impairment due to hemolysis, painful vaso-occlusion episodes, joint avascular necrosis, and strokes. As individuals with SCD age and develop conditions impacting their physical and cognitive function, their ability to multitask successfully and safely may decline. Cognitive-motor dual-task interference occurs when there is deterioration in one or both tasks while dual-tasking relative to single-tasking. Dual-task assessment (DTA) is a valuable measure of physical and cognitive function; however, there is limited data on DTA in adults with SCD. RESEARCH QUESTION: Is DTA a feasible and safe method of measuring physical and cognitive function in adults with SCD? What patterns of cognitive-motor interference occur in adults with SCD? METHODS: We enrolled 40 adults with SCD (mean age 44 years, range 20-71) in a single-center prospective cohort study. We used usual gait speed as the measure of motor performance and verbal fluency (F, A, and S) as the measure of cognitive performance. We measured feasibility as the proportion of consented participants able to complete the DTA. We calculated the relative dual-task effect (DTE %) for each task and identified patterns of dual-task interference. RESULTS: Most consented participants completed the DTA (91%, 40/44) and there were no adverse events. There were 3 main dual-task interference patterns for the first trial using letter 'A': Motor Interference (53%, n = 21), Mutual Interference (23%, n = 9), and Cognitive-Priority Tradeoff (15%, n = 6). For the second trial using letter 'S', there were two main dual-task interference patterns: Cognitive-Priority Tradeoff (53%, n = 21) and Motor Interference (25%, n = 10). STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: DTA was feasible and safe in adults with SCD. We identified specific patterns of cognitive-motor interference. This study supports further evaluation of DTA as a potentially useful tool to measure physical and cognitive function in ambulatory adults with SCD.

Seriously ill pediatric patient, parent, and clinician perspectives on visualizing symptom data.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the perspectives on the use of data visualizations and identified key features seriously ill children, their parents, and clinicians prefer to see when visualizing symptom data obtained from mobile health technologies (an Apple Watch and smartphone symptom app). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Children with serious illness and their parents were enrolled into a symptom monitoring study then a subset was interviewed for this study. A study team member created symptom data visualizations using the pediatric participant's mobile technology data. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a convenience sample of participants (n = 14 children; n = 14 parents). In addition, a convenience sample of clinicians (n = 30) completed surveys. Pediatric and parent participants shared their preferences and perspectives on the symptom visualizations. RESULTS: We identified 3 themes from the pediatric and parent participant interviews: increased symptom awareness, communication, and interpretability of the symptom visualizations. Clinicians preferred pie charts and simple bar charts for their ease of interpretation and ability to be used as communication tools. Most clinicians would prefer to see symptom visualizations in the electronic health record. DISCUSSION: Mobile health tools offer a unique opportunity to obtain patient-generated health data. Effective, concise symptom visualizations can be used to synthesize key clinical information to inform clinical decisions and promote patient-clinician communication to enhance symptom management. CONCLUSIONS: Effectively visualizing complex mobile health data can enhance understanding of symptom dynamics and promote patient-clinician communication, leading to tailored personalized symptom management strategies.