FEASible: Sensing Factors of Environment, Activity, and Sleep to Validate Metabolic Health Burden Among Women - Modified Project Summary/Abstract Section Passive sensing of women's daily living experience as proxy measures of health must be brought to scale in ways to meaningfully intervene and improve quality of life. We propose to validate the integrated measurements from Fitbits, smartphones, purpose-built environmental sensors (Beacon), GPS, and a purpose-built smartphone app (Hornsense), to assess physical activity, sleep, and environmental exposures as they relate to metabolic syndrome (MetS) and MetS-related brain vulnerability. We will develop a pipeline to create and interpret networks signifying how MetS relate to brain integrity in women of childbearing age and identify which environmental factors should be the focus of an intervention. To achieve these goals, we synergize expertise from multiple disciplines, advance pilot data, and ground-truth novel integrated measures. First, it is essential to define how MetS manifests in this sample by identifying how MetS affects brain integrity in a sample of women of childbearing age (n=225) and compare these methods to traditional clinical assessments of MetS (defined by AHA/NHLBI). Measures of cerebral metabolism (Nacetyl aspartate, NAA, myo-inositol, mI and glutamate, Glu) will form a network of brain vulnerability. Daily living will be assessed in 800 women of childbearing age, sampled to reflect the demographic composition of Texas, including approximately 60% Latina participants, through 30 days of dense sensing in the home environment and lab visits. The study population is not limited to a single racial or ethnic group; the sampling approach is intended to support generalizable validation of mobile and environmental sensing methods among women of childbearing age in Texas. Participants will use Fitbits and a smartphone app. Environmentally, we will validate the purpose-built Beacon, which measures environmental factors of particulate matter (PM2.5,- allergens that influence air quality), nitrogen oxides (NOx - gases within smog), carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2), temperature, relative humidity (RH), and amount of noise, first against research-grade reference instruments in well-controlled sleep chambers and smart test homes, and second in participant homes. During the dense sensing, Beacons will be placed in the bedroom and outside the home for 14 days. The 24 hours of activity, location, and all environmental values will be compared with MetS-related brain vulnerability because brain integrity is among the earliest markers of vulnerability, representing measures of poor health outcomes and quality of life in older age. Network analysis of these data will identify the critical central nodes of interest for the development of an intervention. Scaling our pilot sensing protocols will determine the feasibility and efficacy of integrated measurements of daily behavior, activity, sleep, and environmental attributes to predict MetS-related brain vulnerability in women of childbearing age. Identifying valid strategies for targeting individual behaviors and contexts is essential for future intervention efforts to be designed with greater precision for women of child-bearing age.
