Citation

Howcroft J, Kofman J, Lemaire E. IEEE Trans. Neural Syst. Rehabil. Eng. 2017; 25(10): 1812-1820.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2017, IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers))

DOI

10.1109/TNSRE.2017.2687100

PMID

28358689

Abstract

Wearable sensors can provide quantitative, gait-based assessments that can translate to point-of-care environments. This investigation generated elderly fall-risk predictive models based on wearable-sensor-derived gait data and prospective fall occurrence; and identified the optimal sensor type, location, and combination for single and dual-task walking. 75 individuals who reported six month prospective fall occurrence (75.2 ± 6.6 years; 47 non-fallers, 28 fallers) walked 7.62 m under single-task and dual-task conditions while wearing pressure-sensing insoles and tri-axial accelerometers at the head, pelvis, and left and right shanks. Fall-risk classification models were assessed for all sensor combinations and three model types: neural network, naïve Bayesian, and support vector machine. The best performing model used a neural network, dual-task gait data, and input parameters from head, pelvis, and left shank accelerometers (accuracy = 57%, sensitivity = 43%, specificity = 65%). The best single-sensor model used a neural network, dual-task gait data, and pelvis accelerometer parameters (accuracy = 54%, sensitivity = 35%, specificity = 67%). Single-task and dual-task gait assessments provided similar fall-risk model performance. Fall-risk predictive models developed for point-of-care environments should use multi-sensor dual-task gait assessment with the pelvis location considered if assessment is limited to a single sensor.

Language: en