Innovative epidemiological design based on wearable microsensors to monitor mobility and related environmental exposures to better assess cardiovascular risks

BACKGROUND AND AIM[|]Cardiovascular diseases constitute, with around 19 million deaths per year, the leading cause of death in the world. The main controllable risk factors are malnutrition and smoking, but also lack of physical activity and air pollution, two factors directly linked to mobility. Noise and temperature can also be linked to mobility and cardiovascular health. In this context, the Mobility, related pollutions, and Cardiovascular health (MobiCard) research project aims to better document the relationships between mobility-related exposures with specific cardiovascular parameters and underlying pathways.[¤]METHOD[|]To achieve these objectives, 400 individuals are planned to be recruited from the general population of the Lille urban area, France; any Lille conurbation inhabitant of legal age (18 years and over) can volunteer to participate in MobiCard. Recruitments should begin in fall 2024 and last one year. Participants will be equipped for one week with individual microsensors and connected objects. It will therefore be possible to characterize their environmental exposures (PM, NO2, ozone, noise, felt temperature), mobility (trip, mode of transport, travel time), activities (physical or not), and cardiorespiratory clinical parameters (heart rate, blood pressure, peak expiratory flow). To end this week of follow-up, a clinical interview, with blood and urine sampling, will be scheduled.[¤]RESULTS[|]Numerous tangible results are expected such as an individual, continuous and simultaneous characterization of the exposure to several pollutants, covering all microenvironments past through by individuals in their daily lives and considering innovative metrics (multi-exposure, variations over time, inhaled dose). This approach will allow to study the interactions between mobility and activities, environmental exposure levels, and cardiovascular outcomes as well as to investigate new biomarkers of exposure and effect (e.g., epigenetics).[¤]CONCLUSIONS[|]Thus, the MobiCard project should provide a better understanding of the role of mobility-related factors in the development of cardiovascular diseases