TY - JOUR
T1 - Exploring the feasibility and usability of smartphones for monitoring physical activity in orthopedic patients
T2 - Prospective Observational Study
AU - Ghaffari, Arash
AU - Kildahl Lauritsen, Rikke Emilie
AU - Christensen, Michael
AU - Rolighed Thomsen, Trine
AU - Mahapatra, Harshit
AU - Heck, Robert
AU - Kold, Søren
AU - Rahbek, Ole
N1 - ©Arash Ghaffari, Rikke Emilie Kildahl Lauritsen, Michael Christensen, Trine Rolighed Thomsen, Harshit Mahapatra, Robert Heck, Søren Kold, Ole Rahbek. Originally published in JMIR mHealth and uHealth (https://mhealth.jmir.org), 04.07.2023.
PY - 2023/7/4
Y1 - 2023/7/4
N2 - Background: Smartphones are often equipped with inertial sensors that measure individuals' physical activity (PA). However, their role in remote monitoring of the patients' PAs in telemedicine needs to be adequately explored. Objective: This study aimed to explore the correlation between a participant's actual daily step counts and the daily step counts reported by their smartphone. In addition, we inquired about the usability of smartphones for collecting PA data. Methods: This prospective observational study was conducted among patients undergoing lower limb orthopedic surgery and a group of nonpatients as control. The data from the patients were collected from 2 weeks before surgery until 4 weeks after the surgery, whereas the data collection period for the nonpatients was 2 weeks. The participant's daily step count was recorded by PA trackers worn 24/7. In addition, a smartphone app collected the number of daily steps registered by the participants' smartphones. We compared the cross-correlation between the daily steps time series obtained from the smartphones and PA trackers in different groups of participants. We also used mixed modeling to estimate the total number of steps, using smartphone step counts and the characteristics of the patients as independent variables. The System Usability Scale was used to evaluate the participants' experience with the smartphone app and the PA tracker. Results: Overall, 1067 days of data were collected from 21 patients (n=11, 52% female patients) and 10 nonpatients (n=6, 60% female patients). The median cross-correlation coefficient on the same day was 0.70 (IQR 0.53-0.83). The correlation in the nonpatient group was slightly higher than that in the patient group (median 0.74, IQR 0.60-0.90 and median 0.69, IQR 0.52-0.81, respectively). The likelihood ratio tests on the models fitted by mixed effects methods demonstrated that the smartphone step count was positively correlated with the PA tracker's total number of steps (2 1=34.7, P<.001). In addition, the median usability score for the smartphone app was 78 (IQR 73-88) compared with median 73 (IQR 68-80) for the PA tracker. Conclusions: Considering the ubiquity, convenience, and practicality of smartphones, the high correlation between the smartphones and the total daily step count time series highlights the potential usefulness of smartphones in detecting changes in the number of steps in remote monitoring of a patient's PA.
AB - Background: Smartphones are often equipped with inertial sensors that measure individuals' physical activity (PA). However, their role in remote monitoring of the patients' PAs in telemedicine needs to be adequately explored. Objective: This study aimed to explore the correlation between a participant's actual daily step counts and the daily step counts reported by their smartphone. In addition, we inquired about the usability of smartphones for collecting PA data. Methods: This prospective observational study was conducted among patients undergoing lower limb orthopedic surgery and a group of nonpatients as control. The data from the patients were collected from 2 weeks before surgery until 4 weeks after the surgery, whereas the data collection period for the nonpatients was 2 weeks. The participant's daily step count was recorded by PA trackers worn 24/7. In addition, a smartphone app collected the number of daily steps registered by the participants' smartphones. We compared the cross-correlation between the daily steps time series obtained from the smartphones and PA trackers in different groups of participants. We also used mixed modeling to estimate the total number of steps, using smartphone step counts and the characteristics of the patients as independent variables. The System Usability Scale was used to evaluate the participants' experience with the smartphone app and the PA tracker. Results: Overall, 1067 days of data were collected from 21 patients (n=11, 52% female patients) and 10 nonpatients (n=6, 60% female patients). The median cross-correlation coefficient on the same day was 0.70 (IQR 0.53-0.83). The correlation in the nonpatient group was slightly higher than that in the patient group (median 0.74, IQR 0.60-0.90 and median 0.69, IQR 0.52-0.81, respectively). The likelihood ratio tests on the models fitted by mixed effects methods demonstrated that the smartphone step count was positively correlated with the PA tracker's total number of steps (2 1=34.7, P<.001). In addition, the median usability score for the smartphone app was 78 (IQR 73-88) compared with median 73 (IQR 68-80) for the PA tracker. Conclusions: Considering the ubiquity, convenience, and practicality of smartphones, the high correlation between the smartphones and the total daily step count time series highlights the potential usefulness of smartphones in detecting changes in the number of steps in remote monitoring of a patient's PA.
KW - mixed effects modeling
KW - mobile phone
KW - physical activity
KW - remote monitoring
KW - smartphone application
KW - step count
KW - step count prediction
KW - wearable sensors
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85164243508&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.2196/44442
DO - 10.2196/44442
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 37283228
SN - 2291-5222
VL - 11
JO - JMIR mHealth and uHealth
JF - JMIR mHealth and uHealth
M1 - e44442
ER -