Physical activity monitoring during hospital stay: a validation study

Abstract

Purpose

The primary aim of this study was to investigate the concurrent validity of the PAM AM400 accelerometer for measuring physical activity in usual care in hospitalized patients by comparing it with the ActiGraph wGT3X-BT accelerometer.

Materials and methods

This was a prospective single centre observational study performed at the University Medical Centre Utrecht in The Netherlands. Patients admitted to different clinical wards were included. Intraclass Correlation Coefficients (ICCs) were computed using a two-way mixed model with random subjects. Additionally, Bland-Altman plots were made to visualize the level of agreement of the PAM with the ActiGraph. To test for proportional bias, a regression analysis was performed.

Results

In total 17 patients from different clinical wards were included in the analyses. The level of agreement between the PAM and ActiGraph was found strong with an ICC of 0.955. The Bland-Altman analyses showed a mean difference of 1.12 min between the two accelerometers and no proportional bias (p = 0.511).

Conclusions

The PAM is a suitable movement sensor to validly measure the active minutes of hospitalized patients. Implementation of this device in daily care might be helpful to change the immobility culture in hospitals.

IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION

• Physical inactivity is common during hospital admission and the main cause of loss of muscle mass and physical fitness.

• The PAM AM400 is a suitable movement sensor to validly measure the active minutes of hospitalized patients.

• Implementation of this device in daily care might be helpful to change the immobility culture in hospitals.

Keywords:

• Physical activity
• accelerometer
• hospital
• patient
• validation

Disclosure statement

The authors confirm that there are no conflicts of interest to disclose.