DARE to wear: digital health promotion and disease prevention using wearable devices
Global healthcare systems are under increasing strain to ensure long-term sustainability, necessitating a transition towards proactive, preventive healthcare strategies. Wearable sensor technologies are uniquely positioned to facilitate this paradigm shift by allowing continuous physiological and behavioral monitoring, facilitating early risk stratification, and enabling timely interventions. DigitAl lifelong pREvention (DARE) is a nationwide initiative conceived in Italy to develop and evaluate novel digital tools and services aimed at fostering innovative health promotion and disease prevention pathways, with wearable devices identified as a critical enabling technology. Herein, we present a comprehensive overview of 16 investigations designed in DARE to assess the utility of wearable devices in the continuous monitoring of physical activity, joint mobility, sleep, heart rate variability, nutrition, and glucose homeostasis across diverse health domains, including healthy aging, chronic disease prevention, and lifestyle modification programs targeting over 8000 participants. We meticulously detail the methodological characteristics of these study protocols, explicitly outlining the technical specifications, functional capabilities, and inherent limitations of 18 distinct wearable devices (sourced from 12 manufacturers) employed across these trials. The breadth of applications and the heterogeneity of the target populations underscore the significant potential of wearable devices as an integral component of future digital health prevention strategies.
Authors
- Enrico Toffalini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1404-5133)
- Giacomo Cappon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4358-9268)
- Alberto Leardini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3547-7370)
- Alessandro Silvani (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3992-3892)
- Lorenzo Chiari (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2318-4370)
- Garden Tabacchi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7619-5153)
- Giuseppina M. Farella (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3153-3737)
- Raffaele Lodi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3878-304X)
- Luca Vedovelli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4847-2333)
- Gianluigi Ferrari (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6688-0934)
- Veronica Mattioli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1059-6912)
- Lisa Berti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0840-6617)
- Elisa Cainelli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5039-4680)
- Tiziana Pozzoli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7474-553X)
- Maria Giulia Bacalini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1618-2673)
- Ilaria D’Ascanio (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-1568-7149)
- Giovanna Mioni (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1212-4591)
- Paolo Caravaggi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8994-8062)
- Massimo Federici (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4989-5194)
- Marianna Bellafiore (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3092-1666)
- Luca Davoli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4396-8885)
- Andrea Zangrossi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7832-1953)
- Luca Menghini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6494-3970)
- Paola Pontrelli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7654-8318)
- Nicola Cellini (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0306-4408)
- Darío Gregori (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7906-0580)
- Silvia Orlandi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2733-8450)
- Stefano Cianfarani (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2580-8781)
- Paola di Florio
- Antonella Carbonaro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3890-4852)
- Andrea Facchinetti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8041-2280)
- Giulia Rogati (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9301-9461)
- Pierpaolo Palumbo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4438-1787)
- Giorgio Davico (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2046-529X)
- Barbara Carretti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5147-7544)
- Merylin Monaro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5598-691X)
- Serena Moscato (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0538-650X)
- Laura Belli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5408-2265)
- Marco Salvi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6798-2948)
- Marcello Sicbaldi
- Luca Palmerini
- Sabato Mellone (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7688-0188)
- Marco Domenicali
- Luciano Gamberini
- Giovanni Piscopo
- Walter Mazzucco
- Jose Albites-Sanabria
- Marcello Maggio
- Giovanni Sparacino
- Mohammad Junayed Bhuyan
- Loreto Gesualdo
- Irene Mammarella
- Francesco Palmese
Institutions
- University of Rome Tor Vergata (IT)
- University of Parma (IT)
- University of Padua (IT)
- Stockholm University (SE)
- Karolinska Institutet (SE)
- Istituto Neurologico Mediterraneo (IT)
- Ospedale "Santa Maria delle Croci" di Ravenna (IT)
- Azienda Universitaria Ospedaliera Consorziale - Policlinico Bari (IT)
- Laboratori Guglielmo Marconi (Italy) (IT)
- Istituto Ortopedico Rizzoli (IT)
- Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna (IT)
- Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital (IT)
- Azienda-Unita' Sanitaria Locale Di Cesena (IT)
- Istituti di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico (IT)
- University of Bari Aldo Moro (IT)
- University of Palermo (IT)
- University of Bologna (IT)
Publication Details
- Journal
- npj Digital Medicine
- Published
- 2026-09-19
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-026-03230-z
- Primary Topic
- Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00