Smartphone App for Gait Assessment in Older Adults
Author Information
Author(s): Lo On-Yee (Amy), Lee Pei-An, Yu Wanting, Zhou Junhong, Manor Brad
Primary Institution: Harvard Medical School/Hebrew SeniorLife
Hypothesis
Can a smartphone app effectively measure gait metrics in older adults outside of clinical settings?
Conclusion
The smartphone app provides reliable gait metrics that correlate well with traditional methods and can be self-administered by older adults.
Supporting Evidence
- The app allows for remote and repeated self-administration of gait assessments.
- Gait metrics from the app were highly correlated with those from the GAITRite mat.
- Test-retest reliability of app-derived metrics was high for both normal and dual-task walking.
- Older adults with MCI showed greater day-to-day variation in gait during dual-task walking.
Takeaway
Researchers created an app that helps older people check how they walk, and it works really well even when they do other tasks at the same time.
Methodology
The app captures gait metrics during normal and dual-task conditions, with data uploaded for offline analysis.
Limitations
The study primarily involved older adults with intact cognition or mild cognitive impairment, limiting generalizability.
Participant Demographics
Older adults with intact cognition and those with mild cognitive impairment.
Statistical Information
Statistical Significance
p<0.05
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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