You R What You Measure: Digital Biomarkers for Insights in Personalized Health

Abstract

Wearable devices enable continuous, longitudinal collection of physiological or behavioral data. Initially geared towards consumer health enthusiasts, research- and clinical grade wearable devices now find their way into medical research and clinical trials.

This talk will highlight the potential of digital biomarkers to advance personalized medicine as well as the central role for R in the connection, integration, analysis, and/or visualization of health data from digital devices.

First, two digital biomarkers with promising clinical utility will be introduced: continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) and heart rate variability (HRV). The discussion will also include personal use experiences and reference to R packages specifically developed for CGM and HRV data analysis.

The second part of the talk will showcase examples from a two-year long personal project (you R what you measure) to quantify and visualize health and habits. Use cases include the connection and visualization of data from popular wearable devices and smartphone apps for sleep, activity and productivity tracking, all using the R programming language.

Slides