Kinect-based choice reaching and stepping reaction time tests for clinical and in-home assessment of fall risk in older people: a prospective study. Issue 1 (December 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ejupi, Andreas; Gschwind, Yves; Brodie, Matthew; Zagler, Wolfgang; Lord, Stephen; Delbaere, Kim
• Is Part Of: European review of aging and physical activity. Volume 13:Issue 1(2016)
• Page Start: 1
• Page End: 7
• Publication Date: 2016-12
• Subjects: Older adults -- Accidental falls -- Fall risk assessments -- Microsoft kinect -- Sensors -- Reaction time -- Reaching -- Stepping; Exercise therapy for older people -- Periodicals; Exercise for older people -- Periodicals; 615.82
• DOI: 10.1186/s11556-016-0162-2
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1813-7253

Abstract

Abstract Background Quick protective reactions such as reaching or stepping are important to avoid a fall or minimize injuries. We developed Kinect-based choice reaching and stepping reaction time tests (Kinect-based CRTs) and evaluated their ability to differentiate between older fallers and non-fallers and the feasibility of administering them at home. Methods A total of 94 community-dwelling older people were assessed on the Kinect-based CRTs in the laboratory and were followed-up for falls for 6 months. Additionally, a subgroup (n = 20) conducted the Kinect-based CRTs at home. Signal processing algorithms were developed to extract features for reaction, movement and the total time from the Kinect skeleton data. Results Nineteen participants (20.2 %) reported a fall in the 6 months following the assessment. The reaction time (fallers: 797 ± 136 ms, non-fallers: 714 ± 89 ms), movement time (fallers: 392 ± 50 ms, non-fallers: 358 ± 51 ms) and total time (fallers: 1189 ± 170 ms, non-fallers: 1072 ± 109 ms) of the reaching reaction time test differentiated well between the fallers and non-fallers. The stepping reaction time test did not significantly discriminate between the two groups in the prospective study. The correlations between the laboratory and in-home assessments were 0.689 for the reaching reaction time and 0.860 for stepping reaction time. Conclusion The study findings indicate that the Kinect-based CRT tests are feasible to administer in clinical and in-home settings, and thus represents an important step towards the development of sensor-based fall risk self-assessments. With further validation, the assessments may prove useful as a fall risk screen and home-based assessment measures for monitoring changes over time and effects of fall prevention interventions.