Tentative evaluation system of the activities of the Aged : Application of the tri-axial accelerometers

2000 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 11835012
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Institution: Shinshu University, School of Allied Medical Sciences
• Principal Investigator: OHIRA Masayoshi Shinshu University, School of Allied Medical Sciences Assistant Professor, 医療技術短期大学部, 助教授 (50262738)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): KIMURA Teiji Shinshu University, School of Allied Medical Sciences Assistant Professor, 医療技術短期大学部, 助教授 (70252111) ; NISHIMURA Naoshi Shinshu University, School of Allied Medical Sciences Professor, 医療技術短期大学部, 教授 (10020926) ; FUJIWARA Takayuki Shinshu University, School of Allied Medical Sciences Professor, 医療技術短期大学部, 教授 (40181416) ; YANAGIHASHI Ryuuya Shinshu University, School of Allied Medical Sciences Professor, 医療技術短期大学部, 教授 (90191163) ; MIYOSHI Kei Shinshu University, School of Allied Medical Sciences Assistant, 医療技術短期大学部, 助手 (30293509)
• Project Period (FY): 1999 – 2000
• Keywords: Acceleration / Activities of daily livings / Insurance fore care / Elderly / Independency / Care house / Heart Rate

Research Abstract

We have evaluated and compared the activities of daily living of the elderly living in the house with care supply and day care users by using tri-axial accelerometer. At the same time, we had evaluated the ability of daily living and the risk factors of depression of the subjects that use the services of the new insurance for the care in the home living system. We also used the popular evaluation charts and interviewed 26 aged.
In this study, we chose Activetracer AC-301 for the accelerometer. At first we had evaluated the integrated tri dimensional acceleration at easy walking and stand-ups. Twelve care house dweller (72.1 years old in average, care house group) and six day care service users (73.8 years old, day service group) were evaluated using Activetracer. And, we investigated the value of the acceleration for 7 hours using two trigger levels obtained from the first evaluation. The integrated acceleration at the time of the walking of the care house group was bigger significantly than that of the day service group. However, the significant difference was not seen at the standing ups from the chair between the two groups.
The care house group walked faster than day service group, but there were little differences in the integrated accelerations at the standing ups. The walking speed is influenced by the condition of the aged in the needs of the care services. In this study, more the aged fell into the point of care condition and the tri-axis accelerations tend to fall during the daily activities. From the interview of 26 elderly living in the care house, we got some information that the decrease of the daily activity influenced the mind function of the old. It was suggested that we were able to evaluate the independence of the daily living of the aged that is in the need of care services, if the general tests of the activities of daily living and the conditions of depression were performed with the evaluation by the Activetracer, we can get more useful information of the aged. We have to grope the evaluation techniques to assess the abilities of the elderly not able to walk by themselves.
This study provides some evidence that the tri-axial accelerometer is useful to evaluate the changes of the ability of daily living of the aged who use or going to use the services of care insurance.