Evaluation of an accelerometer for at-home monitoring of spontaneous activity in dogs.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the correlation between activity as measured by an accelerometer and videographic measurements of movement and mobility in healthy dogs.


METHODS
4 healthy dogs.


METHODS
After determination that accelerometers had good agreement, 5 identical accelerometers were used simultaneously to test their output at 8 locations (rotated among collar, vest, and forelimb stocking locations) on each dog. Movement and mobility for each dog were recorded continuously with a computerized videography system for 7-hour sessions on 4 consecutive days. Accelerometer values were combined into 439 fifteen-minute intervals and compared with 3 videographic measurements of movement and mobility (distance traveled, time spent walking > 20 cm/s, and time spent changing position by > 12% of 2-dimensional surface area during 1.5 seconds).


RESULTS
96% of values compared between the most discordant pair of accelerometers were within 2 SDs of the mean value from all 5 accelerometers. All mounting locations provided acceptable correlation with videographic measurements of movement and mobility, and the ventral portion of the collar was determined to be the most convenient location.


CONCLUSIONS
Use of an accelerometer was adequate for at-home activity monitoring, an important end point in clinical trials of treatment for chronic disease, and provided information about daily activity that is unattainable by other methods.
Hansen
Bernard D
BD
Comparative Pain Research Laboratory, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27606, USA.
Lascelles
B Duncan X
BD
Keene
Bruce W
BW
Adams
Allison K
AK
Thomson
Andrea E
AE
D000818:Animals; D004285:Dogs / Q000502:physiology*; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000295:instrumentation*; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors; D014743:Videotape Recording