Abstract 3740: Exergame development for cancer prevention and intervention
Authors: Blessing Ahabue, Paula Pullen, Afebuameh Ogbesor, William S. Seffens, James W. Lillard
Journal: Cancer Research (2015)

Abstract The current study utilized smart and connected technologies to assist difficult to reach populations with healthy lifestyle intervention for cancer prevention. Lack of physical activities and high body mass index are important cancer risk factors. We tested the hypothesis that a low cost gaming platform could be used to supplement therapeutic regimes for life style changes to affect risk factors associated with cancer. Using a 3D room sensor built into the Microsoft Kinect, we analyzed qualitative and quantitative measures of Yoga and Tai Chi postures and dance routines with the Kinect sensor. Specifically, we used Kinect version 2.0 Software Development Kit to capture skeleton image streams composed of X, Y, Z coordinates at 20 frames per second. The instructors performed a series of 17 hatha yoga postures, including a variety of standing and supine positions, 12 Tai Chi motions, or performed traditional African-based dance routines. Inaccuracy of data capture was measured by the number of imputed joint positions in the skeleton stream using two-sample equal variance t-test, along with time-average measurements for the dance routines. The accuracy of skeleton capture for sampled yoga postures was heavily dependent on the yoga practitioner view orientation and the particular yoga posture. Frontal view orientation was slightly more accurate than perpendicular, but not significantly different. Standing poses were significantly more accurate than seated or supine body orientations. Instability of joint positions in the skeleton stream was more severe for seated poses as evidenced by large fluctuations between image frames that resulted in visible displacements of joints that were described as jitter. Tai Chi and African dance routines were significantly more accurate for full range of postures. Multiplayer modes in other exergames show positive effect with motivation and physical exertion. Implementation of multiplayer capacity will help to establish a culturally appropriate electronic cohort focused on cancer prevention. In conclusion, the skeleton movement tracking algorithms embedded in Kinect were not appropriate for body positions that significantly deviated far from upright postures. Future studies will evaluate Tai Chi and African dance as an Exergame for multiple players. This app will be designed by peers of targeted populations at risk for cancer, linking GIS neighborhood characteristics for longitudinal tracking across metropolitan Atlanta over time. Acknowledge partial support from G12MD007602, 8U54MD007588, and U54 CA118638. Citation Format: Blessing Ahabue, Paula Pullen, Afebuameh Ogbesor, William S. Seffens, James W. Lillard. Exergame development for cancer prevention and intervention. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 3740. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-3740