Risky movement: Assessing fall risk in people with multiple sclerosis with wearable sensors and beacon-based smart-home monitoring. 2023

Taisa Kushner, and Clara Mosquera-Lopez, and Andrea Hildebrand, and Michelle H Cameron, and Peter G Jacobs
Artificial Intelligence for Medical Systems Lab, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland OR, United States; Galois Inc, Portland OR, USA.

BACKGROUND People with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) fall frequently causing injury, social isolation, and decreased quality of life. Identifying locations and behaviors associated with high fall risk could help direct fall prevention interventions. Here we describe a smart-home system for assessing how mobility metrics relate to real-world fall risk in PwMS. METHODS We performed a secondary analysis of a dataset of real-world falls collected from PwMS to identify patterns associated with increased fall risk. Thirty-four individuals were tracked over eight weeks with an inertial sensor comprising a triaxial accelerometer and time-of-flight radio transmitter, which communicated with beacons positioned throughout the home. We evaluated associations between locations in the home and movement behaviors prior to a fall compared with time periods when no falls occurred using metrics including gait initiation, time-spent-moving, movement length, and an entropy-based metric that quantifies movement complexity using transitions between rooms in the home. We also explored how fall risk may be related to the percent of times that a participant paused while walking (pauses-while-walking). RESULTS Seventeen of the participants monitored sustained a total of 105 falls that were recorded. More falls occurred while walking (52%) than when stationary despite participants being largely sedentary, only walking 1.5±3.3% (median ± IQR) of the time that they were in their home. A total of 28% of falls occurred within one second of gait initiation. As the percentage of pauses-while-walking increased from 20 to 60%, the likelihood of a fall increased by nearly 3 times from 0.06 to 0.16%. Movement complexity, which was quantified using the entropy of room transitions, was significantly higher in the 10 min preceding falls compared with other 10-min time segments not preceding falls (1.15 ± 0.47 vs. 0.96 ± 0.24, P = 0.02). Path length was significantly longer (151.3 ± 156.1 m vs. 95.0 ± 157.2 m, P = 0.003) in the ten minutes preceding a fall compared with non-fall periods. Fall risk also varied among rooms but not consistently across participants. CONCLUSIONS Movement metrics derived from wearable sensors and smart-home tracking systems are associated with fall risk in PwMS. More pauses-while-walking, and more complex, longer movement trajectories are associated with increased fall risk. BACKGROUND Department of Veterans Affairs (RX001831-01A1). National Science Foundation (#2030859).

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D009068 Movement The act, process, or result of passing from one place or position to another. It differs from LOCOMOTION in that locomotion is restricted to the passing of the whole body from one place to another, while movement encompasses both locomotion but also a change of the position of the whole body or any of its parts. Movement may be used with reference to humans, vertebrate and invertebrate animals, and microorganisms. Differentiate also from MOTOR ACTIVITY, movement associated with behavior. Movements
D009103 Multiple Sclerosis An autoimmune disorder mainly affecting young adults and characterized by destruction of myelin in the central nervous system. Pathologic findings include multiple sharply demarcated areas of demyelination throughout the white matter of the central nervous system. Clinical manifestations include visual loss, extra-ocular movement disorders, paresthesias, loss of sensation, weakness, dysarthria, spasticity, ataxia, and bladder dysfunction. The usual pattern is one of recurrent attacks followed by partial recovery (see MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS, RELAPSING-REMITTING), but acute fulminating and chronic progressive forms (see MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS, CHRONIC PROGRESSIVE) also occur. (Adams et al., Principles of Neurology, 6th ed, p903) MS (Multiple Sclerosis),Multiple Sclerosis, Acute Fulminating,Sclerosis, Disseminated,Disseminated Sclerosis,Sclerosis, Multiple
D011788 Quality of Life A generic concept reflecting concern with the modification and enhancement of life attributes, e.g., physical, political, moral, social environment as well as health and disease. HRQOL,Health-Related Quality Of Life,Life Quality,Health Related Quality Of Life
D005684 Gait Manner or style of walking. Gaits
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000076251 Wearable Electronic Devices Electronic implements worn on the body as an implant or as an accessory. Examples include wearable diagnostic devices, wearable ACTIVITY TRACKERS, wearable INFUSION PUMPS, wearable computing devices, SENSORY AIDS, and electronic pest repellents. Wearable Computer,Electronic Skin,Wearable Devices,Wearable Technology,Computer, Wearable,Device, Wearable,Device, Wearable Electronic,Electronic Device, Wearable,Skin, Electronic,Technology, Wearable,Wearable Computers,Wearable Device,Wearable Electronic Device,Wearable Technologies
D016138 Walking An activity in which the body advances at a slow to moderate pace by moving the feet in a coordinated fashion. This includes recreational walking, walking for fitness, and competitive race-walking. Ambulation

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