Mapping sedentary behaviour (MAPS-B) in winter and spring using wearable sensors, indoor positioning systems, and diaries in older adults who are pre-frail and frail: A feasibility longitudinal study

Isabel B Rodrigues; Suleman Tariq; Alexa Kouroukis; Rachel Swance; Jonathan Adachi; Steven Bray; Qiyin Fang; George Ioannidis; Dylan Kobsar; Alexander Rabinovich; Alexandra Papaioannou; Rong Zheng

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0290197

Mapping sedentary behaviour (MAPS-B) in winter and spring using wearable sensors, indoor positioning systems, and diaries in older adults who are pre-frail and frail: A feasibility longitudinal study

PLoS One. 2024 May 16;19(5):e0290197. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0290197. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Isabel B Rodrigues^{1

2}, Suleman Tariq³, Alexa Kouroukis³, Rachel Swance⁴, Jonathan Adachi¹, Steven Bray⁵, Qiyin Fang⁶, George Ioannidis¹, Dylan Kobsar⁵, Alexander Rabinovich⁷, Alexandra Papaioannou^{1

8}, Rong Zheng⁹

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Medicine, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
² Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Max Rady College of Medicine, Winnipeg, Canada.
³ Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
⁴ Faculty of Science, Department of Life Sciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
⁵ Faculty of Science, Department of Kinesiology, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
⁶ Faculty of Engineering, Department of Engineering Physics, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
⁷ Department of Surgery, Division of Orthopaedic Surgery, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
⁸ Department of Health Research Methods, McMaster University, Evidence and Impact, Hamilton, ON, Canada.
⁹ Faculty of Engineering, Department of Computing and Software, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada.

Abstract

Older adults who are frail are likely to be sedentary. Prior interventions to reduce sedentary time in older adults have not been effective as there is little research about the context of sedentary behaviour (posture, location, purpose, social environment). Moreover, there is limited evidence on feasible measures to assess context of sedentary behaviour in older adults. The aim of our study was to determine the feasibility of measuring context of sedentary behaviour in older adults with pre-frailty or frailty using a combination of objective and self-report measures. We defined "feasibility process" using recruitment (20 participants within two-months), retention (85%), and refusal (20%) rates and "feasibility resource" if the measures capture context and can be linked (e.g., sitting-kitchen-eating-alone) and are all participants willing to use the measures. Context was assessed using a wearable sensor to assess posture, a smart home monitoring system for location, and an electronic or hard-copy diary for purpose and social context over three days in winter and spring. We approached 80 potential individuals, and 58 expressed interest; of the 58 individuals, 37 did not enroll due to lack of interest or medical mistrust (64% refusal). We recruited 21 older adults (72±7.3 years, 13 females, 13 frail) within two months and experienced two dropouts due to medical mistrust or worsening health (90% retention). The wearable sensor, indoor positioning system, and electronic diary accurately captured one domain of context, but the hard copy was often not completed with enough detail, so it was challenging to link it to the other devices. Although not all participants were willing to use the wearable sensor, indoor positioning system, or electronic diary, we were able to triage the measures of those who did. The use of wearable sensors and electronic diaries may be a feasible method to assess context of sedentary behaviour, but more research is needed with device-based measures in diverse groups.

Copyright: © 2024 Rodrigues et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

MeSH terms

Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Feasibility Studies*
Female
Frail Elderly
Geographic Information Systems
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Seasons*
Sedentary Behavior*
Self Report
Wearable Electronic Devices*

Grants and funding

IBR received the New Investigator Fund from the Hamilton Health Science to support the MAPS-B project [NIF-22541], as well as the 2022 MIRA-AGE-WELL Award and the 2022 CIHR Fellowship Award. This study was also funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada's (NSERC) Collaborative Research and Training Experience (CREATE) program in the form of support for the Smart Mobility of the Aging Populations project which was received by RZ.