Clinical Research Directory

Development of The Pediatric Physical Activity Tracking Platform (Pedi@Ctivity) and Smartwatch-based Big Data Analysis

Regular physical activity is extremely important for the protection and development of physical and psychosocial health. In addition, acquiring regular physical activity habits in the early years of life allows maintaining numerous gains related to physical fitness, functional capacity and psychoemotional health into adulthood. Guided by scientific and technological innovations, focusing on sustainable development goals, the vision of Society 5.0 is based on digital innovation with artificial intelligence, the internet of things, digital technologies and big data, and is to increase the awareness of individuals and encourage individuals to take a role in improving their health status with wearable technology and mobile health applications. In the literature, only one study has been found on the acquisition of big data with wearable technologies for the promotion of physical activity in adolescents. The general aim of our project is to obtain smartwatch-based big data for adolescents, which will be done for the first time in the field of health and sports in our country, and to analyze the obtained data using both statistical methods and big data analytics and artificial learning methods, to develop Pediatric Physical Activity Tracking Platform (Pedi@ktivite) through physical activity algorithms and to reveal the effect of the developed system on the physical fitness of adolescents and the usability of the system with scientific evidence. Within the scope of the project, adolescents with chronic rheumatic disease will also be included in the sample group, and the effects of the system to be developed in adolescents with the chronic rheumatic disease will be demonstrated. Due to the results obtained, we believe that this technology-supported approach will be an example of good practice for other chronic diseases. As the first technology-supported and big data-oriented project for health and sports in adolescents, our project will fill an important gap and provide pioneering results for future projects, paving the way for providing services in the fields of health and sports with big data analytics and addressing physical inactivity.

Dynamic Gait Index as a Functional Gait Assessment Measure in Children With JIA

Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is one of the most common chronic rheumatic diseases seen in childhood. Pain, joint swelling and loss of function caused by inflammation significantly reduce the patients' quality of life and lead to muscle weakness, limited range of motion and gait disorders. Although there are various clinical assessment methods, there is no functional test in the current literature that evaluates walking in children with JIA. The Dynamic Gait Index (DGI) is a functional walking scale that evaluates walking on level ground, walking while changing speed, walking with sideways head turns, walking with vertical head turns, walking with pivot turns, walking by jumping over obstacles, going around obstacles and climbing stairs. While the DGA is widely used in the clinical assessment of walking in older adults and other pediatric patient groups, it has not yet been investigated for the assessment of walking difficulties in children with JIA. This study aimed to determine whether the DYI is a usable tool for assessing walking in children with JIA.