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WEARABLE ACTIVITY TRACKERS DO NOT INCREASE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN INDIVIDUALS WITH DOWN SYNDROME

Abstract

Grant Malone, Whitley Stone, Nicholas Buoncristiani, Kayla Baker. Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY.

BACKGROUND: Virtually anyone can benefit from physical activity, but despite its well-known benefits, physical inactivity remains a primary contributing factor to poor health within industrialized countries. Wearable physical activity monitors, such as those with screens, have become common place in physical activity promotion. Wearing physical activity trackers increase daily step count, moderate and vigorous intensity exercise, and energy expenditure in adults. This calls into question if wearable physical activity trackers may be useful for increasing physical activity in individuals with chronic special conditions, such as those with Down syndrome. The aim of the current study was to assess step count of individuals with Down syndrome when wearing an activity monitor that provided real-time feedback (FB) versus a control condition (CON; monitor without a screen). METHODS: In this within-subjects counterbalance design, participants (n= 6) completed both conditions (FB and CON). The CON condition required seven days of the ankle accelerometer, whereas FB required seven days with the ankle and wrist monitors. Minutes active, sedentary behavior and step count were compared between conditions using Wilcoxon Signed rank tests. RESULTS: There was no significant difference between conditions for minutes active (FB = 244.333 ± 70.532 minutes; CON = 227.381 ± 54.165 minutes; z = -1.069, p = 0.285), sedentary behavior (FB = 0.830 ± 0.049%; CON = 0.842 ± 0.038%; Z = -1.069, p = 0.285), or step count (FB = 3192 ± 1112 steps; CON = 3172 ± 712 steps; z = -0.535, p = 0.593). CONCLUSIONS: Daily step count, activity, and sedentary behavior appear to be unaffected by the activity tracker worn by participants with Down syndrome. Other avenues should be explored to increase levels of physical activity in individuals with Down syndrome.

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