Relationship between measures provided by smartwatches and identification of frailty syndrome in older adults: a scoping review

Abstract

Objective This scoping review aimed to describe and map the measures provided by smartwatches as a tool for identifying Frailty Syndrome in older adults. Methods Studies published in any language, without publication date restrictions, that described the use of measures provided by smartwatches in evaluating or identifying Frailty Syndrome and/or its criteria in older adults were included. English descriptors for smartwatches, smartbands, Frailty Syndrome and Older Adults were used to develop a comprehensive search strategy, which was then applied to search the following databases: COCHRANE LIBRARY, EMBASE, SCOPUS, PUBMED/MEDLINE, LILACS, WEB OF SCIENCE and PEDRO. Results The initial search identified a total of 156 articles and 2 articles were identified from the manual search in the references of eligible studies. Next, 4 studies that used daily step count measurements for descriptive synthesis were included, and three of the four also used sleep and heart rate data to assess frailty in older adults. The results obtained in this review indicate that parameters derived from smartwatches have been used to identify stages of frailty in different areas, with the majority of studies being associated with other clinical conditions. Conclusion Smartwatches are an excellent frailty monitoring tool through daily measurements of step count, sleep data and heart rate. The results obtained with the use of these devices may suggest a broader evaluation of older adults who face an increased risk of developing Frailty Syndrome.