Work

Actigraphy Features for Predicting Mobility Disability in Older Adults

Year: 2017

Type: article

Abstract: Actigraphy has attracted much attention for assessing and documenting physical activity in the past decade. However, there is a lack of understanding whether these data can help in detecting and/or predicting mobility function, or more specifically, mobility impairment and major mobility disability (MMD). Men (N=357) and women (N=778) aged 70–89 years wore a tri-axial accelerometer (Actigraph GT3X) on the right hip during free-living conditions for 8.4 ± 3.0 days and 67 features were extracted from the accelerometer data. Sensitivity and specificity of identifying slow walkers was approximately 70% and 80%, respectively. The top five features, which were related to movement pace and amount (activity counts and steps), length in activity engagement (bout length), accumulation patterns of activity, and movement variability significantly improved the prediction of MMD beyond that found with common covariates (age, walk speed, diseases). Actigraphy features from free-living conditions may be important for prediction of mobility phenotypes in older adults.

Source: Innovation in Aging

DOI: 10.1093/geroni/igx004.4919