Telemetric activity monitoring as an indicator of long-term changes in health and well-being of older people

Abstract

Background Supporting independent living for older people is essential not only for the older people themselves, but also for the social and health care sectors. For this reason, there exists a need for unobtrusive telecare and telehealth solutions enabling independent living of the older adults. In this study, we demonstrate how telemetric activity monitoring offers a promising tool for long term monitoring to detect changes in the health status and over-all well-being of older people. Methods A telemetric activity monitoring system integrated with an intelligent social alarm system was used to monitor circadian activity rhythm of elderly nursing home residents (n=16, mean age 85.1 years, range 58-97) for several months. Changes in the activity rhythm were compared with clinical observations of health status of the subjects. The results are given as case reports. Results The results suggest an association between the changes in the actual health status and the circadian activity rhythm. Conclusion Telemetric activity monitoring offers a practical tool for long term monitoring to detect changes in health status in older adults in their normal environments.