Nurudeen was nominated by the Cognitive Frailty Interdisciplinary Network (CFIN) to participate in this high-profile event.
Our Digital Health Research Group's core strategy of harnessing feasibility and acceptability of new digital health tools including wearables within diverse demographics closely aligns with the CFIN commitment to promote collaborative, multidisciplinary research to address the challenge of alleviating the development of age-related cognitive frailty. This collective mission, in turn, fitted perfectly with the aim and topics of the discussions in Canada.
The meeting also aimed to identify critical knowledge gaps and priorities for research to advance the field in this space. The discussions emphasised:
1. Critical device-derived measures to characterize each subdomain of mobility in older people.
2. Best practices and recommended methods for using wearable devices to measure mobility in older people.
3. Priorities for future research on wearable technology in aging populations.
To guide the discussion on standards for wearable-derived measures of mobility and their associated collection methods, it was proposed that delegates follow the WHO definition which encompasses the following five sub-domains of mobility: 1) postural, 2) walking, 3) physical activity, 4) transportation, and 5) life-space.
Key discussions and outcomes
- Innovative applications: Presentations highlighted advanced use cases of wearables, such as monitoring fall risk, gait analysis, and activity levels, which can predict health deterioration and improve intervention strategies.
- Interoperability challenges: Participants acknowledged the need for standard protocols to ensure compatibility between different wearable devices and healthcare platforms.
- Usability and acceptability of wearables for measuring mobility in aging populations: Emphasis was placed factors that can drive effectiveness and engagement of the elderly population with wearables for measuring mobility.
- Policy frameworks: A working group proposed recommendations for policymakers to incentivise the adoption of wearable technologies while safeguarding user privacy.
We look forward to the emergence of an international consensus statement on the use of this technology for measuring mobility in aging populations.
