2021-2022: Co-calibrating Momentary Assessments for Physical and Psychological Outcomes with Quality of Life Measurements in Hip Arthroplasty and Cervical Myelopathy Surgeries: The coQoL@hip2neck Study Protocol Design

Inactivity and poor self-care predispose older adults undergoing surgical interventions to detriments to their long-term health and quality of life. Patients’ physical and psychological status over a given period (e.g., week), typically conducted via assessment of Patient-Reported Outcomes (PROs), supports the indication for and evaluation of surgery. However, these assessments suffer from biases affecting reporting, ceiling and floor effects, and a lack of sensitivity to change at their scale’s extremes. Conversely, personal smartphones and wearables are becoming increasingly accurate in measuring long-term behavioral Technology-Reported Outcomes (TechROs). The extent to which TechROs provide complementary clinically useful information is unknown. To this end, we involve patients and clinicians in designing a replicable research protocol coQoL@hip2neck for the co-calibration of the pre-and postoperative PRO and TechRO for hip arthroplasty and cervical myelopathy. Via an interactive additive approach, aspects of human factors, data quality, methods’ feasibility, reliability, and validity, will be scrutinized. Our multidisciplinary team of experts in psychometrics and quality of life, behavioral modeling, and clinical pathways for the two interventions will jointly design longitudinal quality of life assessments, advancing clinical decision-making support based on patient-relevant information. The results will strengthen our application for the Horizon Europe call.

Principal Investigators

University of Geneva, Switzerland 
Prof. Katarzyna Wac, GSEM, CUI, QoL Technologies Lab Director
Prof. Philippe Bijlenga, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, HUG-GE, Hospitals of University of Geneva
Dr Aria Nouri, Resident, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, HUG-GE, Hospitals of University of Geneva
Prof Enrico Tessitore, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, HUG-GE, Hospitals of University of Geneva

University of Exeter, UK 
Prof. Jose M Valderas, Professor of Health Services & Policy Research, College Of Medicine And Health
Mr Jon P Evans, NIHR Clinical Lecturer in Trauma and Orthopaedics, College Of Medicine And Health
Mr Al-amin Kasam, Consultant Hip Surgeon, Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital

The project is funded by the GenEx Joint Seed Money Funding Scheme, which aims at promoting cooperation between the University of Geneva and the University of Exeter.