Combining Continuous Smartphone Native Sensors Data Capture and Unsupervised Data Mining Techniques for Behavioral Changes Detection: A Case Series of the Evidence-Based Behavior (eB2) Study

Background The emergence of smartphones, wearable sensor technologies, and smart homes allows the nonintrusive collection of activity data. Thus, health-related events, such as activities of daily living (ADLs; eg, mobility patterns, feeding, sleeping, ...) can be captured without patients’ active participation. We designed a system to detect changes in the mobility patterns based on the smartphone’s native sensors and advanced machine learning and signal processing techniques. Objective The principal objective of this work is to assess the feasibility of detecting mobility pattern changes in a sample of outpatients with depression using the smartphone’s sensors. The proposed method processed the data acquired by the smartphone using an unsupervised detection technique. Methods In this study, 38 outpatients from the Hospital Fundación Jiménez Díaz Psychiatry Department (Madrid, Spain) participated. The Evidence-Based Behavior (eB2) app was downloaded by patients on the day of recruitment and configured with the assistance of a physician. The app captured the following data: inertial sensors, physical activity, phone calls and message logs, app usage, nearby Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connections, and location. We applied a change-point detection technique to location data on a sample of 9 outpatients recruited between April 6, 2017 and December 14, 2017. The change-point detection was based only on location information, but the eB2 platform allowed for an easy integration of additional data. The app remained running in the background on patients’ smartphone during the study participation. Results The principal outcome measure was the identification of mobility pattern changes based on an unsupervised detection technique applied to the smartphone’s native sensors data. Here, results from 5 patients’ records are presented as a case series. The eB2 system detected specific mobility pattern changes according to the patients’ activity, which may be used as indicators of behavioral and clinical state changes. Conclusions The proposed technique could automatically detect changes in the mobility patterns of outpatients who took part in this study. Assuming these mobility pattern changes correlated with behavioral changes, we have developed a technique that may identify possible relapses or clinical changes. Nevertheless, it is important to point out that the detected changes are not always related to relapses and that some clinical changes cannot be detected by the proposed method.