Many seniors live in dread of falls. If you fall and break your hip, as my Mother did as we were leaving a restaurant in early February a few years back, you might not get home for months. My Mom didn’t go home until the end of May. As we wrote in June this year, senior deaths from falls continue to rise. The seventh leading cause of death for people 65 or older, falls account for 61.6 deaths each year for every 100,000 seniors.
Care Management (previously known as CM2000) has developed ARMED (Advanced Risk Modelling for Early Detection) to identify fall risks early in the care cycle. ARMED uses predictive analytics modeling based on data from sensor-equipped wearables, as well as health and social care data. People using the ARMED system use a selection of wearables to measure grip strength, muscle mass, hydration levels, low heart rate, and heart rate variability. The specific devices are the Polar Loop 2, Polar A360, Polar H7 Heart Rate Variability Sensor, Tanita Body Composition Scales, and grip strength measurement devices. The ARMED program combines data from the wearables with social care measures. The care measures include frequency and duration of health professional visits, service user assessments, feedback surveys, and outcome-goal related qualitative “wellbeing” assessments. The analytics model crunches all the sensor and care data to determine risk factors and identify appropriate preventive actions.
The ARMED system has determined specific frailty indicators of people at risk of falling. The key indicators, derived from the program, include significant dehydration, weight loss, nighttime restlessness, reduced muscle mass regardless of weight and body fat, reduced grip strength, and self-identification. This system is a good example of how information from connected devices can help monitor individuals for health risks, preventing costly and lengthy recovery by reducing the chances of injury.
