Scientific Reports· 2026Q1
Passively sensing anxiety and depression symptoms in daily life among middle-aged adults
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- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
Middle-aged adults with high cadence and high peak height in their gait were less likely to report depression or anxiety symptoms, and decreased wrist-worn actigraph counts correlated with increased anxiety.
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Key points
- Participants with high cadence and high peak height in their gait were less likely to be depressed or anxious.
- Decreased activity counts from wrist-worn actigraphs were associated with increased anxiety symptoms.
- Gait data was collected using phone-based sensors for 90 days and wrist/hip actigraphs for 7 days.
- The study involved 57 middle-aged adults.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
Depression and anxiety are prevalent among 20% of adults. Laboratory studies have demonstrated associations between depression, anxiety and slowed gait. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore the associations between ecological momentary assessments and daily life gait characteristics derived from naturalistic accelerometer signals. We collected phone-based gait data ( n = 57) for 90 consecutive days and wrist and hip data ( n = 17) for 7 consecutive days. We examined interactions between the gait phenotypes defined by cadence and peak height. We found that participants with high cadence and high peak height in their gait were less likely to be depressed or anxious. For the wrist-worn actigraph, decreased counts were associated with increased anxiety symptoms. These findings provide preliminary evidence for integrating passively sensed gait biomarkers into clinical monitoring of anxiety and depression.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Scientific Reports, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation
Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and RehabilitationHealth Professions