An extended editorial in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (BJSM) reflects on the past, present, and future of the wearables-focused ProPASS consortium, highlighting more than eight years of international collaboration and scientific progress.
The editorial highlights how ProPASS has evolved into a leading platform for methodological innovation and a unique global data resource, with the potential to inform future physical activity and sleep guidelines, as well as personalised interventions for the primary and secondary prevention of chronic disease. The work also reflects the involvement of ISEH UCL colleagues Professor Mark Hamer, Dr Joanna Blodgett, and Dr John Mitchell in this international collaboration.
The consortium has now brought together wearable data from more than 240,000 participants across 41 cohorts spanning five continents, positioning ProPASS to generate increasingly robust and globally representative evidence from wearable technologies.
This milestone has been made possible through an extraordinary collaborative effort involving cohort teams, researchers, industry partners, and consortium leadership from around the world.
Special recognition is extended to the more than 100 ProPASS collaborators and cohort leads, Working Group members, the many early- and mid-career researchers who have contributed to the consortium’s success, and the funding organisations that have supported its growth, including the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), the British Heart Foundation, and Cancer Research UK (CRUK).
As ProPASS enters its next phase, the consortium is well positioned to continue advancing globally representative wearable-device research and to generate evidence that will inform future public health guidelines and improve chronic disease prevention worldwide.
About ProPASS:
ProPASS has grown substantially since its inception, expanding from an initial proof-of-concept cross-sectional resource of six cohorts to include additional cohorts across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Early analyses have demonstrated important associations between 24-hour movement behaviours and cardiometabolic health, showing that replacing sedentary time with more intensive physical activities, increasing walking and stair climbing, and maintaining regular, efficient sleep are associated with more favourable health profiles. The consortium has also shown that poor sleep combined with low physical activity is linked to greater cardiometabolic risk.
Building on these findings, ProPASS is completing a large longitudinal data resource that will enable prospective investigations of movement behaviours in relation to mortality and non-communicable diseases and will be made available to researchers worldwide through a governed data access process.
A major priority for ProPASS has been addressing global evidence gaps by expanding wearable-based cohort research into low- and middle-income and other under-represented countries. Through partnerships, device loans, standardised protocols and researcher training, the consortium is supporting new studies across Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. Despite ongoing challenges in accessing health outcome data in many settings, ProPASS continues to develop methodological solutions to improve global representation and strengthen the evidence base for future international movement and sleep guidelines.
