Objective

The purpose of this study was to examine the accuracy of severals accelorometers commonly used in post stroke studies to estimate the total energy expenditure (TEE) over activities of daily living.

Material/Patients and methods

Thirty-eight participants (age: 65,7 ± 13,5; BMI 26,7 ± 6; Barthel Index: 69 ± 21) with various aged strokes were recruited and simultaneously monitored with accelerometers Armband Sensewear ^® (multisensory device); Stayhealthy ^® RT6TM; Actigraph GT3X + B ^® (tri axial devices) and portable metabolic system (Cortex Métamax 3B ^® ). The devices were placed on the non paretic ankle, hip and wrist as recommended. The participant performed four routine activities (transfers, manual tasks, walk, up and down stairs). TEE estimated by accelerometers was compared to the TEE measured by criterion method.

Results

The Armband Sensewear ^® device obtained the better accuracy with a mean difference of 2,8% for the sum of all the activities. However, the lower and upper limits of agreement were high, around 100% of the TEE. All of the other devices had a statistic difference with the criterion method.

Discussion – Conclusion

This study reported strongly differences for the accuracy of accelerometers. The Armband Sensewear ^® device was the better device even if the dispersion of its estimates was high and lead to caution with its use for estimation of TEE in daily living after stroke.