The way you walk could show when you're going to die, according to study

While there are a lot of indicators of how healthy you are, such as age, sleeping pattern, bowel movement, or blood sugar etc. a study has just revealed that scientists have been successful in predicting how long people would live solely by studying the way that they walk.

In a study published by PLOS Digital Health,scientists from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, state that they have used the data generated by wrist devices with accelerometer sensors and have been able to predict mortality risk for up to five years later.

Analysis of walking can predict mortality risks

The study collected data from 100,000 participants in the UK Biobank, who wore activity monitors with motion sensors for 1 week. The researchers then analysed this dataset and extracted walking sessions during their daily life. They then found that the characteristic motions (or how people walk) of these walking sessions can actually predict mortality risk for people.

Predictions of future death made by the researchers’ model were correct 72 percent of the time after one year, and 73 percent after five years.

As per the researcher, though the study used datasets using wrist sensors, even cheap smart phones have good enough accelerometer sensors which could be accurately utilised for similar analysis of walking sessions.

Further implications of the study

The current study shows that large population data sets can throw light upon mortality risks as well as other aspects of health. The scalable study offers 'a feasible pathway towards national screening for health risk.'

Passive monitoring technology like phone and wrist sensors are an accessible method to collect health data, which can also afford privacy to the users. As per the papers,

Cheap phones could have major impact in addressing health equity if proper models can be developed to utilize the limitations of the data provided by their sensors when they are carried.

The paper also states,

Our analysis with wearable sensors for predicting mortality is directly applicable for clinical practice with personal smartphones, already ubiquitous in the UK and the US populations, and widespread in global populations.

Sources used:

The Daily Beast: ‘Scientists Found a Way to Predict Your Death by How You Walk’

PLOS Digital Health: ‘Population analysis of mortality risk: Predictive models from passive monitors using motion sensors for 100,000 UK Biobank participants’

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