Accuracy of the Huawei GT2 Smartwatch for measuring Physical Activity and Sleep among Adults during Daily Life: A Validation Study (Preprint)

Abstract

Smart wearable devices are increasingly popular for physical activity and health promotion. However, ongoing validation studies on commercial smartwatches are still needed to ensure their accuracy in assessing daily activity levels, which is important for both promoting activity-related health behaviors and serving research purposes.

This study aims to evaluate the accuracy of popular smartwatch, Huawei Watch GT2, in measuring step counting (SC), daily activity energy expenditure (TDAEE), and total sleep time (TST) during daily activities among Chinese adults.

A total of 102 individuals were recruited and divided into two age groups: young adults (YA) and middle-aged and elderly (MAAE). Participants' daily activity data were collected for one week by wearing the Huawei Watch GT2 on their non-dominant wrist and the Actigraph GT3X+ on their right hip as the criterion measure. The accuracy of the GT2 was examined using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient (PPMCC), Bland-Altman, mean percentage error (MPE), and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE).

The GT2 demonstrated reasonable agreement with the Actigraph, as evidenced by an ICC consistency test of .88 (P<.001) and an MAPE of 25.77% for step measurement, an ICC of .75 (P<.001) and an MAPE of 33.79% for energy expenditure estimation, and an ICC of .25 (P<.001) and an MAPE of 23.29% for sleep time assessment. Bland-Altman analysis revealed that the GT2 overestimated SC, and underestimated TDAEE and TST. The GT2 is better at measuring SC and TDAEE among YA than among MAAE, and there was no significant difference between these two groups in measuring TST.

The Huawei Watch GT2 demonstrates good accuracy in step counting. However, its accuracy in assessing energy expenditure and sleep time measurement needs further examination. Therefore, the watch is suitable for daily activity monitoring, yet caution is advised for its use in research studies that require high accuracy.