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Low-Cost Consumer-Based Trackers to Measure Physical Activity and Sleep Duration Among Adults in Free-Living
Laurent Degroote1,2,3, Gilles Hamerlinck1, Karolien Poels4
1Department of Movement and Sports Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
JMIR Mhealth and Uhealth
|April 14, 2020
Summary
Low-cost wearable trackers show promising validity for measuring steps and sleep, but accuracy for moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) remains weak across all devices tested. Xiaomi and VeryFit trackers demonstrated the best performance for steps and sleep monitoring, respectively.
Area of Science:
- Biomedical Engineering
- Human Movement Science
- Wearable Technology
Background:
- Wearable trackers for physical activity (PA) and total sleep time (TST) are increasingly popular for consumer, research, and clinical use.
- High costs and accuracy concerns can limit the widespread adoption of these popular monitoring devices.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the concurrent validity of six low-cost activity trackers.
- To assess the accuracy of these trackers in measuring steps, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), and total sleep time (TST).
Main Methods:
- A free-living study involving 20 adults simultaneously wearing low-cost trackers, a high-cost tracker (Fitbit Charge HR), and research-grade accelerometers/body monitors.
- Data collection occurred over 3 days and 3 nights, capturing usual daily activities and sleep patterns.
- Validity was evaluated using mean absolute percentage error, correlations (Spearman), and Bland-Altman plots, comparing low-cost trackers against research-grade devices.
Main Results:
- Significant variations in accuracy were observed among the low-cost trackers.
- Trackers demonstrated moderate-to-strong correlations and low-to-good agreement for step measurement, with Xiaomi MiBand 2 showing the highest validity.
- Validity for MVPA measurement was weak across all tested devices, including the high-cost Fitbit. Sleep measurement (TST) showed weak-to-strong correlations but low agreement overall, with VeryFit 2.0 showing relatively stronger performance.
Conclusions:
- This study is the first to examine the concurrent validity of low-cost activity trackers.
- Low-cost trackers show promise for monitoring steps and sleep, with varying accuracy between devices.
- The measurement of MVPA remains a significant challenge for current low-cost wearable technology.
