Development and Validation of a Measurement System for Assessment of Energy Expenditure and Physical Activity in Prader-Willi Syndrome

BACKGROUND Research shows the feasibility of human activity recognition using Wearable accelerometer devices. Different studies have used varying number and placement for data collection using the sensors. OBJECTIVE To compare accuracy performance between multiple and variable placement of accelerometer devices in categorizing the type of physical activity and corresponding energy expenditure in older adults. METHODS Participants (n=93, 72.2±7.1 yrs) completed a total of 32 activities of daily life in a laboratory setting. Activities were classified as sedentary vs. non-sedentary, locomotion vs. non-locomotion, and lifestyle vs. non-lifestyle activities (e.g. leisure walk vs. computer work). A portable metabolic unit was worn during each activity to measure metabolic equivalents (METs). Accelerometers were placed on five different body positions: wrist, hip, ankle, upper arm, and thigh. Accelerometer data from each body position and combinations of positions were used in developing Random Forest models to assess activity category recognition accuracy and MET estimation. RESULTS Model performance for both MET estimation and activity category recognition strengthened with additional accelerometer devices. However, a single accelerometer on the ankle, upper arm, hip, thigh, or wrist had only a 0.03 to 0.09 MET increase in prediction error as compared to wearing all five devices. Balanced accuracy showed similar trends with slight decreases in balanced accuracy for detection of locomotion (0-0.01 METs), sedentary (0.13-0.05 METs) and lifestyle activities (0.08-0.04 METs) compared to all five placements. The accuracy of recognizing activity categories increased with additional placements (0.15-0.29). Notably, the hip was the best single body position for MET estimation and activity category recognition. CONCLUSIONS Additional accelerometer devices only slightly enhance activity recognition accuracy and MET estimation in older adults. However, given the extra burden of wearing additional devices, single accelerometers with appropriate placement appear to be sufficient for estimating energy expenditure and activity category recognition in older adults.

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Estimating Physical Activity Energy Expenditure Using an Ensemble Model-Based Patch-Type Sensor Module

Electronics ◽

10.3390/electronics10070861 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (7) ◽

pp. 861

Author(s):

Kyeung Ho Kang ◽

Mingu Kang ◽

Siho Shin ◽

Jaehyo Jung ◽

Meina Li

Keyword(s):

Physical Activity ◽

Energy Expenditure ◽

Mean Squared Error ◽

Absolute Error ◽

Ensemble Model ◽

Direct Calorimetry ◽

Patch Type ◽

Mortality And Morbidity ◽

Squared Error ◽

Sensor Module

Chronic diseases, such as coronary artery disease and diabetes, are caused by inadequate physical activity and are the leading cause of increasing mortality and morbidity rates. Direct calorimetry by calorie production and indirect calorimetry by energy expenditure (EE) has been regarded as the best method for estimating the physical activity and EE. However, this method is inconvenient, owing to the use of an oxygen respiration measurement mask. In this study, we propose a model that estimates physical activity EE using an ensemble model that combines artificial neural networks and genetic algorithms using the data acquired from patch-type sensors. The proposed ensemble model achieved an accuracy of more than 92% (Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) = 0.1893, R2 = 0.91, Mean Squared Error (MSE) = 0.014213, Mean Absolute Error (MAE) = 0.14020) by testing various structures through repeated experiments.

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