The Use of Artificial Intelligence and Wearable Inertial Measurement Units in Medicine: Systematic Review
Bibliographic record
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Artificial intelligence (AI) has already revolutionized the analysis of image, text, and tabular data, bringing significant advances across many medical sectors. Now, by combining with wearable inertial measurement units (IMUs), AI could transform health care again by opening new opportunities in patient care and medical research. OBJECTIVE: This systematic review aims to evaluate the integration of AI models with wearable IMUs in health care, identifying current applications, challenges, and future opportunities. The focus will be on the types of models used, the characteristics of the datasets, and the potential for expanding and enhancing the use of this technology to improve patient care and advance medical research. METHODS: This study examines this synergy of AI models and IMU data by using a systematic methodology, following PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines, to explore 3 core questions: (1) Which medical fields are most actively researching AI and IMU data? (2) Which models are being used in the analysis of IMU data within these medical fields? (3) What are the characteristics of the datasets used for in this fields? RESULTS: The median dataset size is of 50 participants, which poses significant limitations for AI models given their dependency on large datasets for effective training and generalization. Furthermore, our analysis reveals the current dominance of machine learning models in 76% on the surveyed studies, suggesting a preference for traditional models like linear regression, support vector machine, and random forest, but also indicating significant growth potential for deep learning models in this area. Impressively, 93% of the studies used supervised learning, revealing an underuse of unsupervised learning, and indicating an important area for future exploration on discovering hidden patterns and insights without predefined labels or outcomes. In addition, there was a preference for conducting studies in clinical settings (77%), rather than in real-life scenarios, a choice that, along with the underapplication of the full potential of wearable IMUs, is recognized as a limitation in terms of practical applicability. Furthermore, the focus of 65% of the studies on neurological issues suggests an opportunity to broaden research scope to other clinical areas such as musculoskeletal applications, where AI could have significant impacts. CONCLUSIONS: In conclusion, the review calls for a collaborative effort to address the highlighted challenges, including improvements in data collection, increasing dataset sizes, a move that inherently pushes the field toward the adoption of more complex deep learning models, and the expansion of the application of AI models on IMU data methodologies across various medical fields. This approach aims to enhance the reliability, generalizability, and clinical applicability of research findings, ultimately improving patient outcomes and advancing medical research.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.019 | 0.110 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.008 | 0.011 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.010 | 0.011 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.004 | 0.003 |
| Open science | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Research integrity | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.004 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".