Accuracy of consumer-level and research-grade activity trackers in ambulatory settings in older adults

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dc.contributor.authorTedesco, Salvatore
dc.contributor.authorSica, Marco
dc.contributor.authorAncillao, Andrea
dc.contributor.authorTimmons, Suzanne
dc.contributor.authorBarton, John
dc.contributor.authorO'Flynn, Brendan
dc.contributor.funderHorizon 2020en
dc.contributor.funderScience Foundation Irelanden
dc.contributor.funderInterregen
dc.date.accessioned2020-03-13T16:55:46Z
dc.date.available2020-03-13T16:55:46Z
dc.date.issued2019-05-21
dc.date.updated2020-03-13T16:42:56Z
dc.description.abstractWrist-worn activity trackers have experienced a tremendous growth lately and studies on the accuracy of mainstream trackers used by older adults are needed. This study explores the performance of six trackers (Fitbit Charge2, Garmin VivoSmart HR+, Philips Health Watch, Withings Pulse Ox, ActiGraph GT9X-BT, Omron HJ-72OITC) for estimating: steps, travelled distance, and heart-rate measurements for a cohort of older adults. Eighteen older adults completed a structured protocol involving walking tasks, simulated household activities, and sedentary activities. Less standardized activities were also included, such as: dusting, using a walking aid, or playing cards, in order to simulate real-life scenarios. Wrist-mounted and chest/waist-mounted devices were used. Gold-standards included treadmill, ECG-based chest strap, direct observation or video recording according to the activity and parameter. Every tracker showed a decreasing accuracy with slower walking speed, which resulted in a significant step under-counting. A large mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) was found for every monitor at slower walking speeds with the lowest reported MAPE at 2 km/h being 7.78%, increasing to 20.88% at 1.5 km/h, and 44.53% at 1 km/h. During household activities, the MAPE climbing up/down-stairs ranged from 8.38–19.3% and 10.06–19.01% (dominant and non-dominant arm), respectively. Waist-worn devices showed a more uniform performance. However, unstructured activities (e.g. dusting, playing cards), and using a walking aid represent a challenge for all wrist-worn trackers as evidenced by large MAPE (> 57.66% for dusting, > 67.32% when using a walking aid). Poor performance in travelled distance estimation was also evident during walking at low speeds and climbing up/down-stairs (MAPE > 71.44% and > 48.3%, respectively). Regarding heart-rate measurement, there was no significant difference (p-values > 0.05) in accuracy between trackers placed on the dominant or non-dominant arm. Concordant with existing literature, while the mean error was limited (between -3.57 bpm and 4.21 bpm), a single heart-rate measurement could be underestimated up to 30 beats-per-minute. This study showed a number of limitations of consumer-level wrist-based activity trackers for older adults. Therefore caution is required when used, in healthcare or in research settings, to measure activity in older adults.en
dc.description.sponsorshipINTERREG (NPA funded project SenDOC)en
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.description.versionPublished Versionen
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.articleide0216891en
dc.identifier.citationTedesco, S., Sica, M., Ancillao, A., Timmons, S., Barton, J. and O'Flynn, B. (2019) 'Accuracy of consumer-level and research-grade activity trackers in ambulatory settings in older adults'. Plos One, 14(5), e0216891, (17 pp). doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0216891en
dc.identifier.doi10.1371/journal.pone.0216891en
dc.identifier.endpage17en
dc.identifier.issn1932-6203
dc.identifier.issued5en
dc.identifier.journaltitlePloS Oneen
dc.identifier.startpage1en
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/9760
dc.identifier.volume14en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherPLoSen
dc.relation.projectinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/H2020::RIA/689996/EU/Integrated Technology Ecosystem for ProACTive Patient Centred Care/ProACTen
dc.relation.projectinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/SFI/SFI Research Centres/13/RC/2077/IE/CONNECT: The Centre for Future Networks & Communications/en
dc.rights© 2019 Tedesco et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.en
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en
dc.subjectStep-count accuracyen
dc.subjectPhysical-activityen
dc.subjectActivity monitorsen
dc.subjectValidityen
dc.subjectReliabilityen
dc.subjectExpenditureen
dc.subjectValidationen
dc.subjectSensorsen
dc.titleAccuracy of consumer-level and research-grade activity trackers in ambulatory settings in older adultsen
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)en
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