Vancouver’s PAI Health has been awarded the contract to develop the technology platform for the largest exercise intervention study ever performed.
The study, called The Norwegian Trial of Physical Exercise after Myocardial Infarction (NorEx), will be undertaken at NTNU, the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.
PAI Health is a heart health software company that offers data insights rooted in the proven science of cardiorespiratory fitness. The company previously did business a Mio Global.
The research involves ensuring exercise adherence of approximately 4,500 participants across Norway for a period of four years. The study will involve 50 hospitals, 85 personal trainers and more than 100 physicians.
The primary objective of NorEx is to determine the efficacy of physical exercise using the PAI system on mortality and cardiovascular morbidity in patients with MI.
The secondary objectives are to determine the efficacy of physical exercise on cause-specific mortality, cardiovascular diseases, risk factors for cardiovascular diseases, cancers, hospitalization, use of primary health care resources, use of prescription drugs, and to evaluate cost-effectiveness of exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation in patients with MI.
Patients will be given Huami Amazfit wearable devices that will track heart rate in addition to many other biometric parameters. Data will be converted to PAI Scores as a measurement of their physical activity levels, with the ideal goal being 100 PAI for maximum risk reduction of cardiovascular disease mortality.
The technology platform will provide researchers with the ability to monitor and engage with the participants in real-time throughout the intervention. System algorithms will also detect users needing support and the support team can quickly follow up.
The goal of the intervention is to encourage people to maintain activity levels at 100 PAI or greater over the duration of the trial.
PAI (Personal Activity Intelligence) is the first scientifically validated and published score that prescribes a personalized, weekly plan for physical activity. It has been proven those who maintain 100 PAI saw a significant reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease mortality and other lifestyle diseases.
“We are honoured to be selected as the technology provider for such an important, extensive study,” says Sally Powell, Chief Commercial Officer of PAI Health.
“We look forward to learning the best practices for administering an exercise-based intervention program for cardiac rehab patients and the resulting health outcomes. This will accelerate our progress towards helping people optimize their path to better health through our proprietary PAI metric that has the promise of becoming a new global standard for physical activity.”