m-SFT: A Novel Mobile Health System to Assess the Elderly Physical Condition mobile health

Abstract

The development of innovative solutions that allow the aging population to remain 1 healthier and independent longer is essential to alleviate the burden that this increasing segment of the 2 population supposes for the long term sustainability of the public health systems. It has been claimed 3 that promoting physical activity could prevent functional decline. However, given the vulnerability of 4 this population, the activity prescription requires to be tailored to the individual's physical condition. 5 We propose m-SFT (mobile Senior Fitness Test), a novel m-health system, that allows the health 6 practitioner to determine the elderly physical condition by implementing a smartphone-based version 7 of the senior fitness test (SFT). The technical reliability of m-SFT has been tested by carrying out a 8 comparative study in 7 volunteers (53-61 years) between the original SFT and the proposed m-health 9 system obtaining high agreement (Intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) between 0.93 and 0.99). The 10 system usability has been evaluated by 34 independent health experts (Mean=36.64 years; Standard 11 Deviation=6.26 years) by means of the System Usability Scale (SUS) obtaining an average SUS score 12 of 84.4 out of 100. Both results point out that m-SFT is a reliable and easy to use m-health system for 13 the evaluation of the elderly physical condition, also useful in intervention programs to follow-up 14 the patient's evolution.