Clear cadence-based activity targets for children and teens
Official title: The SKyRoCKeT Study: Surface-Knit and Reformulate CADENCE-Kids for Translation.
Funded at University of North Carolina Charlotte · NIH-11320764 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project builds an easy-to-use, age-aware way to turn step rates and wearable data into meaningful activity levels for kids and young adults ages 6–20.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of North Carolina Charlotte NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Charlotte, United States) |
| Project start | May 1, 2022 |
| Project end | March 31, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $584,007 |
| NIH project number | 5R01HD105768-05 |
| Project ID | NIH-11320764 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are children, adolescents, and young adults aged 6–20 who can wear an activity monitor and participate in supervised movement tests.
✕Less likely to help
Children under 6, adults over 20, people who cannot wear monitoring devices, or those seeking medical treatment rather than activity measurement are unlikely to benefit directly from participation.
What this research studies
If you join, researchers will recruit 360 young people aged 6–20 with balanced ages and sexes. You will wear activity monitors and complete movement tasks so the team can link step cadence and wearable signals to activity intensity across ages. The team will create a single continuous age-to-cadence map that avoids artificial jumps between age groups and improves precision of thresholds for moderate-to-vigorous activity. The end result is meant to be a simple, practical metric families and clinicians can use to track and encourage healthy activity.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could give families and clinicians clearer, age-appropriate step-rate targets to monitor and improve young people's physical activity.
How similar studies have gone: Prior CADENCE-Kids pilot work (R21) showed promise for age-specific cadence thresholds, and this project expands and refines that prior approach.
Where this research is happening
-
University of North Carolina Charlotte
Charlotte, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Gunn, Laura H — University of North Carolina Charlotte
- Study coordinator: Gunn, Laura H
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.