Wearable movement monitoring to spot fall risk in older adults
Using instrumented everyday gait to predict falls in older adults using the WHS cohort
This project uses a small wearable sensor worn during daily life to find walking and activity patterns that help identify older adults who are more likely to fall.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Brigham and Women's Hospital NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Boston, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11307017 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
You would wear a small accelerometer for about a week while going about your normal daily activities so the device can record walking speed, step patterns, and overall activity levels. Researchers will analyze measures like gait speed, step variability, and how activity changes across the week to see which patterns link to later injurious falls. The work uses data from a large cohort of community-living older adults and compares everyday monitoring to standard clinic tests. The goal is to develop a practical way to find people who could benefit from fall-prevention programs earlier.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates are community-dwelling older adults (typically aged 65 and older) who can walk in daily life and wear a small sensor for about a week.
Not a fit: People who are non-ambulatory, living in institutional settings, or unable to wear or tolerate the sensor (for example due to severe cognitive impairment) may not benefit from this approach.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could help identify older adults at high risk of falling earlier so they can get tailored prevention like exercise programs or home safety changes.
How similar studies have performed: Smaller studies have shown promising links between wearable gait measures and fall risk, but larger-scale validation in diverse older adults is still needed.
Where this research is happening
Boston, United States
- Brigham and Women's Hospital — Boston, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Wayne, Peter Michael — Brigham and Women's Hospital
- Study coordinator: Wayne, Peter Michael
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.