Consumer Wearable Devices for Activity Monitoring Among Individuals After a Stroke: A Prospective Comparison
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Activity monitoring is necessary to investigate sedentary behavior after a stroke. Consumer wearable devices are an attractive alternative to research-grade technology, but measurement properties have not been established. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine the accuracy of 2 wrist-worn fitness trackers: Fitbit Charge HR (FBT) and Garmin Vivosmart (GAR). METHODS: Adults attending in- or outpatient therapy for stroke (n=37) wore FBT and GAR each on 2 separate days, in addition to an X6 accelerometer and Actigraph chest strap monitor. Step counts and heart rate data were extracted, and the agreement between devices was determined using Pearson or Spearman correlation and paired t or Wilcoxon signed rank tests (one- and two-sided). Subgroup analyses were conducted. RESULTS: Step counts from FBT and GAR positively correlated with the X6 accelerometer (ρ=.78 and ρ=.65, P<.001, respectively) but were significantly lower (P<.01). For individuals using a rollator, there was no significant correlation between step counts from the X6 accelerometer and either FBT (ρ=.42, P=.12) or GAR (ρ=.30, P=.27). Heart rate from Actigraph, FBT, and GAR demonstrated responsiveness to changes in activity. Both FBT and GAR positively correlated with Actigraph for average heart rate (r=.53 and .75, P<.01, respectively) and time in target zone (ρ=.49 and .74, P<.01, respectively); these measures were not significantly different, but nonequivalence was found. CONCLUSIONS: FBT and GAR had moderate to strong correlation with best available reference measures of walking activity in individuals with subacute stroke. Accuracy appears to be lower among rollator users and varies according to heart rhythm. Consumer wearables may be a viable option for large-scale studies of physical activity.
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Three studies (five comparisons) examined wearable device heart rate compared with a Polar brand chest strap in free-living settings.
“Three studies (five comparisons) examined wearable device heart rate compared with the reference standard criterion measure of a Polar brand chest strap in free-living settings [75,77,78].”
From Reliability and Validity of Commercially Available Wearable Devices for Measuring Steps, Energy Expenditure, and Heart Rate: Systematic Review (2020) · cites this paper as [75]
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- Authors
- Rozanski, G. M., Aqui, A., Sivakumaran, S., & Mansfield, A.
- Affiliations
- University Health Network (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Rozanski, Gabriela M
- Venue
- JMIR Cardio
- Publisher
- JMIR Publications Inc.
- Published
- 2018-01-04
- Volume
- 2
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- e1
- ISSN
- 2561-1011 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6834221
- OpenAlex
- W2782069824
- Cited by
- 36
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 2
- FWCI
- 1.89
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- JMIR Cardio (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition › Context-Aware Activity Recognition Systems
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
- Keywords
- consumer wearable devices, wearable activity trackers, stroke, activity monitoring, sedentary behavior, step count accuracy, heart rate monitoring, accelerometer validation, subacute stroke, physical activity measurement
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