Everyday physical activity in adolescents and young adults with meningomyelocele as measured with a novel activity monitor

We measured the extent of hypoactivity in adolescents and young adults with meningomyelocele with an activity monitor. The activity monitor is based on long-term ambulatory monitoring of signals from body-fixed accelerometers during everyday life and is aimed at the assessment of mobility-related activities, Measurements were performed during 2 consecutive weekdays in 14 patients with meningomyelocele (aged 14 to 26 years) and in 14 matched, healthy subjects. Mean duration of dynamic activities (composite measure) was less in the patients (6.5 +/- 2.3%) than in comparison subjects (12.7 +/- 4.3%, P = .001). Number of walking or wheelchair-driving periods was 122 +/- 48 in the patients and 185 +/- 65 in the comparison subjects (P = .01). Resting heart rate was higher in the patients (70 +/- 7 beats/min vs 64 +/- 5 beats/min, P = .01). Time spent with dynamic activities was correlated with ambulatory status (r(s) = 0.55, P < .05). Adolescents and young adults with meningomyelocele, particularly the nonambulators, are considerably hypoactive.