Joint Distribution and Transitions of Pain and Activity in Critically Ill Patients
This work addresses the need for automated monitoring to optimize pain management and mobility in critically ill patients, but it is incremental as it applies existing wearable technology to a new clinical dataset.
The study tackled the problem of understanding the relationship between pain and activity in ICU patients by collecting continuous activity data from wearable devices and nurse-assessed pain scores, revealing the joint distribution and state transitions between these two states.
Pain and physical function are both essential indices of recovery in critically ill patients in the Intensive Care Units (ICU). Simultaneous monitoring of pain intensity and patient activity can be important for determining which analgesic interventions can optimize mobility and function, while minimizing opioid harm. Nonetheless, so far, our knowledge of the relation between pain and activity has been limited to manual and sporadic activity assessments. In recent years, wearable devices equipped with 3-axis accelerometers have been used in many domains to provide a continuous and automated measure of mobility and physical activity. In this study, we collected activity intensity data from 57 ICU patients, using the Actigraph GT3X device. We also collected relevant clinical information, including nurse assessments of pain intensity, recorded every 1-4 hours. Our results show the joint distribution and state transition of joint activity and pain states in critically ill patients.