The number of adults and children who are overweight or obese continues to increase and has reached epidemic proportions. Obesity is due to a sustained positive energy balance (energy intake > energy expenditure) and is typically coupled with low levels of physical activity (i.e. sedentary lifestyles). The combination of obesity and inactivity has resulted in increased morbidity and mortality from hypertension, stroke, coronary artery disease, dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea and a number of other conditions. To reduce these health risks, individuals are advised to monitor and manage their weight by altering lifestyle and engaging in daily physical activity. Posture allocation (time spent lying, sitting and standing) reflects an individuals lifestyle and is related to obesity, which suggests that the ability to monitor posture allocation may be useful for weight management. Instruments that monitor body weight and quantify physical activity (e.g. accelerometers) have proven to be beneficial for individuals engaged in weight management programs but have limited accuracy in free-living conditions. A single device that accurately monitors body weight, posture allocation, physical activity (i.e. movement), and energy expenditure would be an extremely useful tool for weight management. Our long-term objective is to develop a simple, inexpensive, unobtrusive device that can easily be incorporated into conventional footwear and can accurately measure body weight, posture allocation, physical activity and daily energy expenditure. Such a device could be used to quantify and modify physical activity and lifestyle behavior in overweight and obese individuals and others with sedentary lifestyles. We propose that by measuring plantar pressure distribution and acceleration of the foot, combined with a pattern recognition methodology for identifying posture allocation and movement, we can accurately and reliably measure several of the variables associated with successful weight management in free-living adults. The proposed methodology is based on inexpensive technology that would enable research, clinical and consumer applications for estimating daily energy expenditure and behavior modification.
Public Health Relevance: Obesity is a chief contributor to preventable deaths in the United States and poses a major health challenge associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Obesity is a result of positive energy balance and there is an urgent need to develop tools that can ultimately be used to prevent and treat obesity by changing physical activity behavior.
Public Health Relevance Statement: 7. Project Narrative Obesity is a chief contributor to preventable deaths in the United States and poses a major health challenge associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Obesity is a result of positive energy balance and there is an urgent need to develop tools that can ultimately be used to prevent and treat obesity by changing physical activity behavior.
NIH Spending Category: Basic Behavioral and Social Science; Behavioral and Social Science; Bioengineering; Cardiovascular; Clinical Research; Mind and Body; Nutrition; Obesity; Prevention
Project Terms: 0-11 years old; 21+ years old; Acceleration; Adult; Algorithms; Apnea, Sleep; Apoplexy; Behavior; Behavior Conditioning Therapy; Behavior Modification; Behavior Therapy; Behavior Treatment; Behavior or Life Style Modifications; Behavioral Conditioning Therapy; Behavioral Modification; Behavioral Therapy; Behavioral Treatment; Blood Pressure, High; Body Weight; Body Weights and Measures; Caloric Intake; Cerebral Stroke; Cerebrovascular Apoplexy; Cerebrovascular Stroke; Cerebrovascular accident; Cessation of life; Child; Child Youth; Children (0-21); Classification; Clinical; Clinical Trials, Phase II; Conditioning Therapy; Coronary Arteriosclerosis; Coronary Artery Disease; Coronary Artery Disorder; Coronary Atherosclerosis; Coupled; Data; Death; Detection; Devices; Diabetes Mellitus, Adult-Onset; Diabetes Mellitus, Ketosis-Resistant; Diabetes Mellitus, Non-Insulin-Dependent; Diabetes Mellitus, Noninsulin Dependent; Diabetes Mellitus, Slow-Onset; Diabetes Mellitus, Stable; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2; Diabetes Mellitus, Type II; Dyslipidemias; Energy Expenditure; Energy Intake; Energy Metabolism; Epidemic; Foot; Goals; Health; Heel; Human, Adult; Human, Child; Hypertension; Individual; Lead; Life; Life Style; Life Style Modification; Lifestyle; MODY; Maturity-Onset Diabetes Mellitus; Measurement; Measures; Method LOINC Axis 6; Methodology; Methods; Methods and Techniques; Methods, Other; Monitor; Morbidity; Morbidity - disease rate; Mortality; Mortality Vital Statistics; Movement; NIDDM; Non-Insulin Dependent Diabetes; Non-Insulin-Dependent Diabetes Mellitus; Obesity; Over weight; Overweight; Pattern Recognition; Pattern Recognition/Display/Analysis; Pb element; Pes; Phase; Phase 2 Clinical Trials; Phase II Clinical Trials; Physical activity; Posture; Pressure; Pressure- physical agent; Programs (PT); Programs [Publication Type]; Research; Risk; Running; STTR; Shoes; Sleep Apnea Syndromes; Sleep Hypopnea; Sleep-Disordered Breathing; Small Business Technology Transfer Research; Stroke; System; System, LOINC Axis 4; Systematics; T2D; T2DM; Techniques; Technology; Time; Type 2 diabetes; Type II diabetes; United States; Vacuum; Vascular Accident, Brain; Vascular Hypertensive Disease; Vascular Hypertensive Disorder; Walking; Weight; adiposity; adult human (21+); adult onset diabetes; base; behavior intervention; behavioral intervention; body movement; brain attack; caloric dietary content; cerebral vascular accident; children; computerized data processing; corpulence; corpulency; corpulentia; data processing; design; designing; energy balance; foot; heavy metal Pb; heavy metal lead; hyperpiesia; hyperpiesis; hypertensive disease; instrument; ketosis resistant diabetes; maturity onset diabetes; novel; obese; obese people; obese person; obese population; phase 2 study; phase 2 trial; phase II trial; pressure; prevent; preventing; programs; protocol, phase II; prototype; public health relevance; satisfaction; sedentary; sensor; signal processing; stroke; study, phase II; success; tool; youngster
