Measuring real life motor activity in depression

Abstract

Specific scales have been validated for clinical assessment of psychomotor retardation in depression [4,5], but have the disadvantage of being observer dependent. Objective measurements were developed [6], but most of them need an in-laboratory setting and only capture data in a testing condition. However, depressive symptoms are known to present diurnal fluctuations [7]. To overcome this problem, actigraphic measurements have been used to monitor motor activity in a “real life” setting [8]. Although actigraphic measurements provide data on the number of movements per epoch, they do not measure speed of movements. Altogether, a recent review [3] concluded that data on the status of psychomotor retardation in depression are still fragmentary and confirm the need of further quantitative and qualitative investigations. More advanced methods for objective motor assessment may allow improving our understanding of motor alterations in depression.