A report for use in daily clinical practice was developed in collaboration with researchers and physicians in the field of COPD and Asthma. The report provides a small set of parameters with reference values of COPD patients and can serve as a feedback tool for patients with COPD or Asthma. The coloring of the outcomes makes it easy to quickly identify how active a patient is and to see how he or she scores compares to its peers.
Learn moreThe results of six major activity parameters are displayed for each day, in bar graphs. Colours (orange to green) represent the norms (1 to 5) and indicate how well the patient scores on a certain day, on a certain parameter compared to its peers. For Total Energy Expenditure no reference values are given. A summary of the 5 activity parameters, for which reference values are available, is presented in the second row. Next to this summary, the wearing time of each day is presented. ≥94% wearing time per day is considered 'compliant' and therefore coloured green. An invalid day is coloured orange.
Measuring activity levels of COPD patients is a relatively new field of study and therefore reference values are scarce. Some reference values were available in published literature and therefore derived from these studies. For other parameters reference values were obtained from McRoberts' databases because published values were unavailable. Please contact us if you want specific information concerning these database-derived reference values.
Typically in daily life a lot of short walking periods occur while moving around in the house or at work. However, guidelines on daily physical activity from health organizations like the ACSM [1] and the NNGB [3] indicate that longer uninterrupted intervals of physical activity are advisable. In order to gain knowledge about longer uninterrupted physical activity the ‘active time’ is defined as the total physical activity time for uninterrupted periods of a minimum of 10 minutes or longer.
The total amount of energy a person uses is calculated by the sum of BMR, DIT, and AEE. To prevent weight gain or weight loss, energy intake must be balanced with Total Energy Expenditure.
An important parameter for reference is the amount of sedentary behaviour in daily life. Lying time during the day is derived from the posture classification data as described in the 'Physical Activity' module. The bar graph represents the period of lying during daytime with (colour) indication of the corresponding reference norm.
The Movement Intensity (MI) is derived from the acceleration signal and gives an indication of the power of the movements. The MI during periods of walking is shown in a bar graph for each day individually. The colors of the bars indicate to which reference norm the measured MI for walking relates.
A person’s total energy expenditure based on a 24-hour period, divided by his Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR). The physical activity level can also be estimated based on a list of the (physical) activities a person performs from day to day. Each activity has its own PAR. The physical activity level is the time-weighted average of the PARs. A chair- or bed-bound lifestyle corresponds to an average PAL value of 1.2, while a lifestyle of strenuous work or highly active leisure corresponds to a PAL value of 2.0-2.4 [2].
For each period of walking that is detected, the amount of steps is determined and shown in the numerical report. In the summary report the total amount of steps and the average amount of steps per walk period are shown.