A recent study highlights the financial viability of using gamification strategies to increase daily physical activity among individuals at elevated risk for cardiovascular disease, presenting promising implications for healthcare payers and stakeholders.
Study Overview
The BE ACTIVE trial assessed the effectiveness of gamification, financial incentives, and a combination of both in enhancing the number of steps taken each day compared to a control group receiving daily text messages. Utilizing a probabilistic Markov model, researchers evaluated the cost of each intervention against the projected life-years and quality-adjusted life-years over a lifetime, considering various scenarios regarding the sustainability of increased physical activity post-intervention.
Economic Implications
Findings indicate that gamification alone remains below the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association’s threshold of $50,000 per life-year gained across different scenarios of activity retention post-intervention. In contrast, while the combination of gamification and financial incentives showed cost-effectiveness, financial incentives alone did not perform as well and were surpassed by the other approaches.
Key insights from the study include:
- Gamification consistently remains a cost-effective strategy for promoting physical activity among high-risk cardiovascular patients.
- The addition of financial incentives enhances efficacy but may not be sustainable in all scenarios.
- Cost-effectiveness varies significantly depending on the durability of behavior changes post-intervention.
The cost to deliver the attention control was $878 per participant over 12 months, with gamification, financial incentives, and their combination costing $938, $1,534, and $1,712 respectively. Compared to the control, gamification cost-effectively increased life expectancy, especially when the increased activity levels were maintained.
These results underscore the potential of behavioral economic approaches, particularly gamification, as sustainable and economically viable methods to enhance physical activity levels, thereby improving long-term cardiovascular outcomes.
Implementing gamification strategies in healthcare programs could offer a scalable solution to combat sedentary lifestyles, ultimately reducing the burden of cardiovascular diseases and associated healthcare costs.
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