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. 2018 Apr 2;6(4):e70.
doi: 10.2196/mhealth.8524.

Counting Steps in Activities of Daily Living in People With a Chronic Disease Using Nine Commercially Available Fitness Trackers: Cross-Sectional Validity Study

Darcy Ummels  1   2   3 , Emmylou Beekman  1   2   3 , Kyra Theunissen  1 , Susy Braun  4   5 , Anna J Beurskens  1   3
Affiliations

Counting Steps in Activities of Daily Living in People With a Chronic Disease Using Nine Commercially Available Fitness Trackers: Cross-Sectional Validity Study

Darcy Ummels et al. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. .

Abstract

Background: Measuring physical activity with commercially available activity trackers is gaining popularity. People with a chronic disease can especially benefit from knowledge about their physical activity pattern in everyday life since sufficient physical activity can contribute to wellbeing and quality of life. However, no validity data are available for this population during activities of daily living.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the validity of 9 commercially available activity trackers for measuring step count during activities of daily living in people with a chronic disease receiving physiotherapy.

Methods: The selected activity trackers were Accupedo (Corusen LLC), Activ8 (Remedy Distribution Ltd), Digi-Walker CW-700 (Yamax), Fitbit Flex (Fitbit inc), Lumoback (Lumo Bodytech), Moves (ProtoGeo Oy), Fitbit One (Fitbit inc), UP24 (Jawbone), and Walking Style X (Omron Healthcare Europe BV). In total, 130 persons with chronic diseases performed standardized activity protocols based on activities of daily living that were recorded on video camera and analyzed for step count (gold standard). The validity of the trackers' step count was assessed by correlation coefficients, t tests, scatterplots, and Bland-Altman plots.

Results: The correlations between the number of steps counted by the activity trackers and the gold standard were low (range: -.02 to .33). For all activity trackers except for Fitbit One, a significant systematic difference with the gold standard was found for step count. Plots showed a wide range in scores for all activity trackers; Activ8 showed an average overestimation and the other 8 trackers showed underestimations.

Conclusions: This study showed that the validity of 9 commercially available activity trackers is low measuring steps while individuals with chronic diseases receiving physiotherapy engage in activities of daily living.

Keywords: accelerometer; activity tracker; chronic disease; physical activity; physical therapy; validity; wearable.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Scatterplot of the number of steps counted by Fitbit One and the gold standard.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Scatterplot of the number of steps counted by Activ8 and the gold standard.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Scatterplot of the number of steps counted by Digi-walker CW-700 and the gold standard.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Bland-Altman plot of Fitbit One and the gold standard.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Bland-Altman plot of the Aciv8 and the gold standard.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Bland-Altman plot of Digi-Walker CW-700 and the gold standard.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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