• Rishi Raj, Kamonpun Ussavarungsi, and Kenneth Nugent.
• Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL. Electronic address: rishi.raj@northwestern.edu.
• J Crit Care. 2014 Oct 1; 29 (5): 748-52.

PurposeMonitoring sedation/agitation levels in patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) are important to direct treatment and to improve outcomes. This study was designed to determine the potential use of accelerometer-based sensors/devices to objectively measure sedation/agitation in patients admitted to the ICU.Materials And MethodsAccelerometer-based devices (actigraphs) were placed on nondominant wrists of 86 patients in the ICU after informed consent. The sedation/agitation levels were classified as deep sedation, light sedation, alert and calm, mild agitation and severe agitation, and measured at regular intervals. The sedation/agitation levels were correlated with the accelerometer data (downloaded raw actigraphy data).ResultsThe sedation/agitation levels correlated strongly with the accelerometer readings represented by mean actigraphy counts (r = 0.968; P = .007) and the proportion of time spent moving as determined by actigraphy (r = 0.979; P = .004).ConclusionsAccelerometer data correlate strongly with the sedation/agitation levels of patients in the ICUs, and appropriately designed accelerometer-based sensors/devices have the potential to be used for automating objective and continuous monitoring of sedation/agitation levels in patients in the ICU.Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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