Is the Xiaomi Mi Band 4 an Accuracy Tool for Measuring Health-Related Parameters in Adults and Older People? An Original Validation Study

Assessing the immediate impact of Twin-block appliance insertion on adolescents' sleep using a wearable device

OBJECTIVE

This prospective clinical study aimed to evaluate the immediate impact of Twin-block appliance insertion on the sleep of adolescents using a wearable device.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A total of 24 girls, aged 11-13 years, with Class II division 1 molar relationship, skeletal class 2 malocclusion (ANB ≥5) and overjet measuring ≥5 mm were selected. Exclusion criteria included a history of previous orthodontic treatment, systemic disease, irregular sleep pattern, obstructive sleep apnea, medical history of breathing disorders, or concurrent use of medications. Participants wore a wearable device to measure sleep parameters, including deep sleep, light sleep, minutes awake during sleep, wake-up times, bedtimes and total sleep times. The participants wore the device for 10 days prior to Twin-block insertion and sleep data were collected for another 10 days after insertion.

RESULTS

Following the insertion of the Twin-block appliance, there was a highly statistically significant shift in bedtime and wake-up time to later hours (P < .001). All participants experienced a highly significant delay in bedtime compared to the recommended 10 pm time (P < .001). Additionally, there was a significant increase in the duration of light sleep (P < .05). However, the effect on deep sleep, minutes awake during sleep and sleep duration was not statistically significant. None of the sleep parameters tested showed statistically significant changes between the first 5 days after Twin-block insertion with the subsequent 5 days.

CONCLUSION

The immediate insertion of the Twin-block appliance disrupts sleep onset, wake-up time and light sleep during the specified period of 10 days.

UCLMuevete: Increasing the amount of physical activity, work-ability, and cardiorespiratory fitness capacity in university workers through active breaks

BACKGROUND

Active break programs at the workplace are a promising initiative for increasing workers' physical activity (PA) levels, health, work-ability (WA), and social relationship.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the impact of an Active Breaks workplace program based on Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) aligned with Behavior Change Techniques (BCT) on PA levels, cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), WA, and social relationships among university workers.

METHODS

#UCLMuévete is a quasi-experimental, 12-week intervention designed according to the TREND and TIDieR-PHP checklists. Sixty-nine university workers were recruited and placed into 17 teams of 3 to 5 people. Participants were instructed to take a 20-min active break every working day (walking, cycling, and functional training). The following variables were measured before and after the 12-week intervention: (1) Amount of PA with accelerometers, (2) CRF through the 6 Min-Walking Test (m), (3) Body composition (fat mass (gr), muscle mass (gr), and bone mineral content (g/cm3) through densitometry), (4) Stress with the BodyGuard2 device, (5) WA through Work Ability Index (WAI), and (6) Social relationships through an ad-hoc questionnaire. Part-time workers, pregnant women, and workers with physical disability were excluded.

RESULTS

Significant improvements were observed in the amount of daily moderate-to-vigorous PA (Difference (Dif)., women +8.05 and men +12.31 minutes; p < 0.05; ES = 0.224; 0.379), CRF (Dif., women +52.98 and men +25.53 meters; p < 0.05; ES = 0.578; 0.209), and (Dif., women +2.16 and men +2.39; p < 0.05; ES = 0.150; 0.177). No significant changes were observed in body composition and stress.

CONCLUSION

20 min/day of aerobic and strength active breaks, based on SCT aligned to BCTs, improves university workers' amount of PA, CRF, WAI, and social relationships.

Using wearable activity trackers for research in the global south: Lessons learned from adolescent psychotherapy research in Kenya

Wearable activity trackers have emerged as valuable tools for health research, providing high-resolution data on measures such as physical activity. While most research on these devices has been conducted in high-income countries, there is growing interest in their use in the global south. This perspective discusses the challenges faced and strategies employed when using wearable activity trackers to test the effects of a school-based intervention for depression and anxiety among Kenyan youth. Lessons learned include the importance of validating data output, establishing an internal procedure for international procurement, providing on-site support for participants, designating a full-time team member for wearable activity tracker operation, and issuing a paper-based information sheet to participants. The insights shared in this perspective serve as guidance for researchers undertaking studies with wearables in similar settings, contributing to the evidence base for mental health interventions targeting youth in the global south. Despite the challenges to set up, deploy and extract data from wearable activity trackers, we believe that wearables are a relatively economical approach to provide insight into the daily lives of research participants, and recommend their use to other researchers.

Validity of the Xiaomi Mi Band 2, 3, 4 and 5 Wristbands for Assessing Physical Activity in 12-to-18-Year-Old Adolescents under Unstructured Free-Living Conditions. Fit-Person Study

The purpose was to assess the validity of four generations of Xiaomi Mi Band wristbands for the assessment of step count and physical activity (PA) levels among adolescents aged 12-18 years under free-living conditions. One hundred adolescents were invited to participate in the present study. The final sample consisted of 62 high-school students (34 females), aged 12-18 years old (Mage = 14.1 ± 1.6 years), who wore an ActiGraph accelerometer on their hip (PA and step count reference measures) and four activity wristbands (Xiaomi Mi Band 2, 3, 4, and 5) on their non-dominant wrist during the waking time of one day. Results showed that the agreement between daily PA levels (i.e., slow, brisk, and slow-brisk pace walking, total PA and moderate-to-vigorous PA) measured by Xiaomi Mi Band wristbands and the accelerometer were poor (ICC, 95% CI = 0.06-0.78, 0.00-0.92; MAPE = 50.1-150.6%). However, agreement between daily step count measured by the accelerometer and the Xiaomi Mi Band wristbands were between acceptable (MAPE = 12.2-13.6%) to excellent (ICC, 95% CI = 0.94-0.95, 0.90-0.97). Furthermore, the Xiaomi Mi Band wristbands have a good to excellent validity for correctly classifying adolescents as meeting or not meeting the recommended 10,000 steps per day (P = 0.89-0.95, k = 0.71-0.87) and the recommended 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous PA per day (P = 0.89-0.94, k = 0.69-0.83). Furthermore, comparability between the four Xiaomi Mi Band generations were poor to excellent (ICC, 95% CI = 0.22-0.99, 0.00-1.00) for the daily PA levels outputs, although it was excellent (ICC, 95% CI = 0.99-1.00, 0.96-1.00; MAPE = 0.0-0.1%) for daily step count. Different models of Xiaomi Mi Band wristbands were comparable and presented good validity for measuring adolescents' step count, and they accurately classified adolescents as meeting or not meeting the PA recommendations under free-living conditions.

A Novel Approach to Assess Balneotherapy Effects on Musculoskeletal Diseases-An Open Interventional Trial Combining Physiological Indicators, Biomarkers, and Patients' Health Perception

The present study aimed to evaluate whether a 14-day period of balneotherapy influences the inflammatory status, health-related quality of life (QoL) and quality of sleep, underlying overall health state, and clinically relevant benefits of patients with musculoskeletal diseases (MD). The health-related QoL was evaluated using the following instruments: 5Q-5D-5L, EQ-VAS, EUROHIS-QOL, B-IPQ, and HAQ-DI. The quality of sleep was evaluated by a BaSIQS instrument. Circulating levels of IL-6 and C-reactive protein (CRP) were measured by ELISA and chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay, respectively. The smartband, Xiaomi MI Band 4, was used for real-time sensing of physical activity and sleep quality. MD patients improved the health-related QoL measured by 5Q-5D-5L (p < 0.001), EQ-VAS (p < 0.001), EUROHIS-QOL (p = 0.017), B-IPQ (p < 0.001), and HAQ-DI (p = 0.019) after balneotherapy; the sleep quality was also improved (BaSIQS, p = 0.019). Serum concentrations of IL-6 were markedly decreased after the 14-day balneotherapy (p < 0.001). No statistically significant differences were observed regarding the physical activity and sleep quality data recorded by the smartband. Balneotherapy may be an effective alternative treatment in managing the health status of MD patients, with a decrease in inflammatory states, along with positive effects on pain reduction, patient's functionality, QoL, quality of sleep, and disability perception status.