API - help with extracting step data for clinical trial

[MarkFB]

Are there any other researchers out there who have used the API to extract step data for clinical trial use?  Our goal is to manage a small university study, with 10 participants at risk of foot amputation, who will be given FitBit device for a week.  We will not use the participant's smart phones because they are older and not comfortable with technology.   Our goal is to upload their step count data (15 min intervals) when they return to the site after a week of use, preferably through a common laptop with BlueTooth dongle. 

Does anyone have programs or advice to share?

Thank you! - Mark

[JohnFitbit]

Hi @MarkFB,

Welcome to the forums!

If you haven't already done so, I recommend checking out our Researcher Landing Page to get additional resources for your study. The page also includes a Research Publication Library where researchers that have used Fitbit devices for their studies, share their findings for others to see.

In terms of your project goal, this is do-able. We've supported researchers in the past with this use-case and understand that certain Fitbit users are not comfortable with technology. By taking advantage of the Fitbit device's storage, devices can store intraday totals for up to 7 days, and daily totals for up to 30 days. That means if you want to pull 15-min detail levels for steps, you'll need to pull that data on the 7th day before it begins to be purged from the device. 

I hope this helps. Let me know if you have any other questions.

[MarkFB]

Thank you John.   This is helpful. 

I do have a developer who has worked with the FitBit API in the past.  But he and I need a little more help.   Our participants will only use the FitBit for approx two weeks.  They are typically older patients and many are not comfortable with their phones, nor do they want to put software on their phone for just two weeks of use.    We would like to upload the 10 FitBits to a common bluetooth device, preferably through a BlueTooth dongle to the Microsoft PC app.   I understand many of the new FitBits are no longer compatible with dongles.  Knowing this, we may use the Alta HR which we already own several units.  This runs out of battery on day 7 so our 7 days of data is safe as soon as the battery dies.  How do we upload 10 Alta HR's to a common PC or phone?  Would we create 10 cloud accounts or have 10 logins for the PC? 

Thank you very much for your help -

 - Mark

[FoxMan32]

Thank you for the information