Monitoring Depression in Bipolar Disorder using Circadian Measures from Smartphone Accelerometers
This provides an objective monitoring tool for clinicians and patients with bipolar disorder, though it is incremental as it applies existing methods to a new domain.
The study tackled predicting depression levels in bipolar disorder patients using smartphone accelerometer data, achieving a mean absolute error of 1.00 on a 0-27 scale and an accuracy of 0.84 for classification.
Current management of bipolar disorder relies on self-reported questionnaires and interviews with clinicians. The development of objective measures of deteriorating mood may also allow for early interventions to take place to avoid transitions into depressive states. The objective of this study was to use acceleration data recorded from smartphones to predict levels of depression in a population of participants diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Data were collected from 52 participants, with a mean of 37 weeks of acceleration data with a corresponding depression score recorded per participant. Time varying hidden Markov models were used to extract weekly features of activity, sleep and circadian rhythms. Personalised regression achieved mean absolute errors of 1.00(0.57) from a possible scale of 0 to 27 and was able to classify depression with an accuracy of 0.84(0.16). The results demonstrate features derived from smartphone accelerometers are able to provide objective markers of depression. Low barriers for uptake exist due to the widespread use of smartphones, with personalised models able to account for differences in the behaviour of individuals and provide accurate predictions of depression.