Vision attentive model for early recognition of sarcopenia with limited mobility of elders in domestic environment

Abstract

Sarcopenia, a condition marked by age-related loss of muscle mass and function (especially in elders), is becoming more commonplace worldwide. Sarcopenia screening is necessary to identify at-risk people and implement measures to stop or slow their growth, especially in elders. Since many older people reject wearable sensor-based technologies, there is still a need for vision-attentive-based techniques for sarcopenia screening through the functional mobility of older people. In this research, combining the Timed Up and Go test (TUG-T), 3 Meters Walk Test (3mW-T), and fall score model built a vision attentive system for screening for sarcopenia in elders. The t-test applied to the collected dataset indicated a direct correlation between sarcopenia and factors such as TUG time (p=0.004), gait speed (p=0.006), fall score (p=0.021), and age (p=0.002). The primary discovery of this research indicates that older individuals afflicted by sarcopenia exhibit a TUG time exceeding 13.1 (±0.35) seconds, along with a gait speed slower than 0.7 (±0.07) m/s. Moreover, using the TUG test, gait speed, and fall score, the system successfully recognized sarcopenia in individuals with an accuracy of 93.7 (±1.9) %, 96.1 (±2.1) %, and 92.14 (±4.6) %, respectively. The method can potentially be an effective sarcopenia screening tool, as evidenced by its overall accuracy of 91.2%. These findings suggest that a vision-attentive system can be effective for sarcopenia screening and early detection, which may eventually enhance the elderly’s clinical outcomes and quality of life. Keywords: Geriatric assessment, Functional mobility estimation, Sarcopenia screening, TUG test, Vision attentive model