# Proof-of-Concept of IMU-Based Detection of ICU-Relevant Agitation Motion Patterns in Healthy Volunteers

**Authors:** Ryuto Yokoyama, Tatsuya Hayasaka, Tomochika Harada, Si’ao Huang, Kenya Yarimizu, Michio Yokoyama, Kaneyuki Kawamae

PMC · DOI: 10.3390/bioengineering13020164 · Bioengineering · 2026-01-29

## TL;DR

This study shows that IMUs and CNNs can detect ICU-relevant agitation movements in healthy volunteers under controlled conditions.

## Contribution

A proof-of-concept CNN model using multi-site IMU data to detect ICU agitation motion patterns in a lab setting.

## Key findings

- The CNN achieved a median macro-averaged accuracy of 77.0% in classifying agitation-related movements.
- High specificity (95.4%) was observed, indicating good discrimination of non-agitation movements.
- Results suggest technical feasibility of using IMUs and CNNs for agitation detection in controlled environments.

## Abstract

Agitation-related movements in intensive care units (ICUs), such as unintended tube removal and bed exit attempts, pose significant risks to patient safety. The wearable inertial measurement units (IMUs) offer a potential means of capturing such movements. However, the technical feasibility of discriminating ICU-relevant agitation motion patterns from multi-site IMU data remains insufficiently established. To evaluate the technical feasibility of using a convolutional neural network (CNN) applied to multi-site IMU signals to discriminate predefined ICU-relevant agitation-related motion patterns under controlled experimental conditions. Fifteen healthy volunteers performed six scripted movements designed to emulate ICU-relevant agitation-related behaviors while wearing seven IMU sensors on the limbs and waist. A CNN comprising three convolutional layers with kernel sizes of 3, 5, and 7 was trained using 1-s windows extracted from 8-s trials and evaluated using leave-one-subject-out cross-validation. The performance was summarized using macro-averaged accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, precision, and F1 score. Across 135 independent training runs, the CNN achieved a median macro-averaged accuracy of 77.0%, sensitivity of 77.0%, specificity of 95.4%, and F1 score of 77.4%. These results indicate stable window-level discrimination of the predefined motion classes under standardized conditions. This proof-of-concept study demonstrates that multi-site IMU signals combined with CNN-based modeling can technically discriminate ICU-relevant agitation-related motion patterns in a controlled laboratory setting. Although these findings do not establish clinical validity in ICU patients, they provide a methodological foundation for future studies aimed at patient-level validation and real-world critical care deployment.

## Full-text entities

- **Diseases:** respiratory failure (MESH:D012131), falling (MESH:C537863), Delirium (MESH:D003693), injury to (MESH:D014947), critically ill (MESH:D016638), pain (MESH:D010146), sleep disruption (MESH:D019958), asthma (MESH:D001249), anxiety (MESH:D001007), collagen diseases (MESH:D003095), musculoskeletal disorders (MESH:D009140), atopic dermatitis (MESH:D003876), neurologically impaired (MESH:D009422), Agitation (MESH:D011595), neuropsychiatric syndrome (MESH:C000631768)
- **Chemicals:** BMP280 (-)
- **Species:** Homo sapiens (human, species) [taxon 9606]

## Full text

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## Figures

5 figures with captions in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12937868/full.md

## References

30 references — full list in the complete paper: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12937868/full.md

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Source: https://tomesphere.com/paper/PMC12937868