Measuring physical activity levels in hospitalized patients: a comparison between behavioural mapping and data from an accelerometer.
Karin Valkenet, Petra Bor, Lotte van Delft and 1 others
PMID 30864490WHAT IT FOUND
In 30 hospitalized patients, behavioural mapping and an accelerometer matched closely on group-level time lying, sitting and moving.
For individual patients, differences of 20% or more were common, so use group-level data, not one patient's score.
Key findings
01Across the 30 patients as a group, mean differences were 2.6% or less and correlation values were 0.782 or higher.
02For individual patients, differences of 20% or more were common, and the range of differences between the two measures was large for all three levels.
03In one patient, lying time differed by 51.2%: 87.1% by observation versus 35.9% by accelerometer.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
30 patients were included, below the recommended sample size of at least 32 for agreement studies. Patients were assessed for one day between 9 AM and 4 PM, so night-time activity was not measured. 26 of 30 patients had independent mobility, so the results say little about patients who need help to move. Observation missed patients outside the ward or out of sight, such as during bathing. Four patients started observation late, and four stopped early because of discharge or discomfort. One patient removed the accelerometer after 1.5 hours. Activities were combined into lying, sitting and moving, so item-level differences were not analysed.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest and received no financial support.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the strong group-level agreement as proof that either method is accurate for one patient. On patient level, differences of 20% or more were common, and one patient's lying time differed by 51.2%.