Mekritthikrai Nuttawuth, Yuenyongchaiwat Kornanong, Thanawattano Chusak
Department of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, Thammasat University, Thailand.
Thammasat University Research Unit in Physical Therapy in Cardiovascular and Respiratory Systems, Thailand.
Heliyon. 2023 Jul 1;9(7):e17854. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e17854. eCollection 2023 Jul.
Evaluation assessments for physical performance, such as walking tests, are important for measuring a person's well-being. As of current, medical technology is primarily used to administer these assessments. However, medical devices are not easily accessible and are intended for research purposes only, and hence inconvenient for clinical use. Therefore, we aimed to develop a prototype physical performance assessor device with a mobile application and explored concurrent validity and reliability between the standard 6-min walk test (6MWT) and wearable sensor 6MWT using 6-min walk distance in healthy adults.
Sixty healthy males and females, above 18 years of age, were required to attach a sensor to their dominant ankle while the standard protocol for 6MWT was performed. After completing the walking test, the distance from the wearable sensor 6MWT with a mobile application and the standard 6MWT were recorded and compared.
There was no significant difference between the distance between the standard 6MWT (410.12 ± 74.03 m) and the distance obtained with the wearable sensor. Concurrent validity was found to be moderate, and Cronbach's alpha was 0.79, which indicated good internal consistency.
The innovative prototype wearable walking sensor with a mobile application can effectively evaluate physical performance in healthy individuals.Clinical trial registration number: TCTR20220801002.
身体机能评估，如步行测试，对于衡量一个人的健康状况很重要。目前，医学技术主要用于进行这些评估。然而，医疗设备不易获取且仅用于研究目的，因此临床使用不便。因此，我们旨在开发一种带有移动应用程序的身体机能评估原型设备，并探讨在健康成年人中标准6分钟步行测试（6MWT）与可穿戴传感器6MWT之间使用6分钟步行距离的同时效度和信度。
60名18岁以上的健康男性和女性在进行6MWT标准方案时，需要在其优势脚踝上佩戴一个传感器。完成步行测试后，记录并比较通过带有移动应用程序的可穿戴传感器6MWT和标准6MWT测得的距离。
标准6MWT的距离（410.12±74.03米）与通过可穿戴传感器测得的距离之间没有显著差异。同时效度被发现为中等，Cronbach's alpha为0.79，表明具有良好的内部一致性。
具有移动应用程序的创新型可穿戴步行传感器原型可以有效评估健康个体的身体机能。临床试验注册号：TCTR20220801002。
