Tedesco Salvatore, Barton John, O'Flynn Brendan
Tyndall National Institute, University College Cork/Lee Maltings, Prospect Row, Cork T12R5CP, Ireland.
Sensors (Basel). 2017 Jun 3;17(6):1277. doi: 10.3390/s17061277.
The objective assessment of physical activity levels through wearable inertial-based motion detectors for the automatic, continuous and long-term monitoring of people in free-living environments is a well-known research area in the literature. However, their application to older adults can present particular constraints. This paper reviews the adoption of wearable devices in senior citizens by describing various researches for monitoring physical activity indicators, such as energy expenditure, posture transitions, activity classification, fall detection and prediction, gait and balance analysis, also by adopting consumer-grade fitness trackers with the associated limitations regarding acceptability. This review also describes and compares existing commercial products encompassing activity trackers tailored for older adults, thus providing a comprehensive outlook of the status of commercially available motion tracking systems. Finally, the impact of wearable devices on life and health insurance companies, with a description of the potential benefits for the industry and the wearables market, was analyzed as an example of the potential emerging market drivers for such technology in the future.
通过基于可穿戴惯性的运动探测器对自由生活环境中的人群进行自动、连续和长期监测，以客观评估身体活动水平，这是文献中一个广为人知的研究领域。然而，将其应用于老年人可能会有特殊限制。本文通过描述各种监测身体活动指标的研究，如能量消耗、姿势转换、活动分类、跌倒检测与预测、步态和平衡分析，来回顾可穿戴设备在老年人中的应用情况，这些研究还采用了消费级健身追踪器，但存在关于可接受性的相关限制。本综述还描述并比较了现有的商业产品，包括为老年人量身定制的活动追踪器，从而全面呈现市售运动追踪系统的现状。最后，分析了可穿戴设备对人寿和健康保险公司的影响，并描述了该技术对行业和可穿戴设备市场的潜在益处，以此作为未来此类技术潜在新兴市场驱动因素的一个例子。
