Evaluating Sleeping and Waking States of Infants: Consistency of Actigraph and Observational Data

Abstract

The objective was to evaluate sleeping and waking states of infants <6 months old. The design of study was comparing video-recorded and actigraphic data. Participants were thirteen healthy 3- to 5-month-old infants. At their homes, subjects wore an ankle actigraph for 1 h and were videotaped simultaneously. We performed per-minute analysis of video data using the method for observing newborns developed by Brazelton. Video and actigraphic data were compared each minute. The total concordance rate was 93.5%. Sleep/wake identification by actigraphy and visual observation correspond closely for infants.