Abstract
Sleep problems and disrupted circadian rhythms are common
among older adults and may be associated with several
health issues and physical functioning status. Wearable
continuous monitoring of physical activity enables
unobtrusive monitoring of circadian activity and sleep
patterns. The objective of this retrospective study was
to analyze whether physical functioning status
(Activities of Daily Living assessment of Resident
Assessment Instrument) is associated with diurnal
activity rhythm and sleep patterns measured with wearable
activity sensor in nursing home residents during their
normal daily life. Continuous activity data were
collected by the wearable sensor from 16 nursing home
residents (average age of 90.7 years, seven demented
subjects, one female) in their daily life over several
months (12-18 months). The subjects' physical activity
and sleep were quantified by several parameters from the
activity data. In the cross-sectional analysis, physical
functioning status was associated with the strength (RHO
= 0.78,P <0.05) and the stability (RHO = 0.72,P <0.05)
of the activity rhythm when the level of dementia was not
controlled.
In the longitudinal analysis (12-18 months), at an
individual level the activity rhythm indices and activity
level had the strongest correlations with changes in
physical functioning but the associations were to some
extent individual. In these long-term case recordings,
decrease in the physical functioning was most strongly
associated with decreasing levels of activity, stability,
and strength of the activity rhythm, and with increasing
fragmentation of rhythm and daytime passivity. Daily
wearable monitoring of physical activity may hence reveal
information about functioning state and health of older
adults. However, since the changes in activity patterns
implying changes in physical functioning statusmay not be
consistent between the individuals, a multivariate
approach is recommended for monitoring of these changes
by continuous physical activity measurement.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 856 - 864 |
Journal | IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics |
Volume | 20 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2016 |
MoE publication type | A1 Journal article-refereed |
Keywords
- activities of daily living
- ambulatory monitoring
- dementia
- long-term
- physical activity