A validation study of a smartphone application for functional mobility assessment of the elderly.
Matthew H M Chan, Donald T F Keung, Steve Y T Lui and 1 others
PMID 30931027WHAT IT FOUND
In 32 healthy older adults, a chest-mounted smartphone app gave sit-to-stand and up-and-go times almost the same as a chair force sensor, but it added 0.27 and 0.48 seconds on average.
Key findings
01The app's times were very close to the force sensor times, with agreement values of 0.988 for the sit-to-stand test and 0.946 for the up-and-go test.
02The app overestimated the time by 0.27 seconds for the sit-to-stand test and 0.48 seconds for the up-and-go test.
03The reported limits of agreement were 1.76 seconds for the sit-to-stand test and 2.63 seconds for the up-and-go test.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Only 32 healthy older adults were tested, and all could do daily activities independently without walking aids, so this says little about people with disease, frailty, or walking aids. The app was compared with a laboratory force sensor, not with the usual stopwatch timing used in clinics. The app overestimated time, and the reported limits of agreement were 1.76 seconds for sit-to-stand and 2.63 seconds for up-and-go. The algorithm relies on trunk movement, and the paper says it is unclear whether it works in frail older adults.
Declared interests
The paper does not report funding or conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume the app gives the same time as a stopwatch in any older adult. It was tested only in healthy independent older adults against a chair force sensor, and it overestimated time by 0.27 and 0.48 seconds on average.