This study used free-living accelerometry data to forecast cognitive decline in older adults without dementia. Two cohorts were used: one with hip accelerometers (7 days of continuous wear) and one with wrist accelerometers (72 hours of continuous wear). Classifier models predicted 1-year cognitive decline with over 85% accuracy using hip data and 5-year decline with nearly 70% accuracy using wrist data, exceeding the accuracy of models using demographics and comorbidities alone. The models show promise for clinical translation.

Chengjian Shi, Niser Babiker, Jacek K. Urbanek, Robert L. Grossman, Megan Huisingh-Scheetz, Andrey Rzhetsky