Monitoring the Well-being of Older People by Energy Usage Patterns: Systematic Review of the Literature and Evidence Synthesis

Abstract

Background: Due to the aging population, there is a need for monitoring well-being and safety while living independently. A low-intrusive monitoring system is based on a person's use of energy or water.

Objective: The study's objective was to provide a systematic overview of studies that monitor the health and well-being of older people using energy (eg, electricity and gas) and water usage data and study the outcomes on health and well-being.

Methods: CENTRAL, Embase, MEDLINE (Ovid), Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar were searched systematically from inception until November 8, 2021. The inclusion criteria were that the study had to be published in English, have full-text availability, target independent-living people aged 60 years and older from the general population, have an observational design, and assess the outcomes of a monitoring system based on energy (ie, electricity, gas, or water) usage on well-being and safety. The quality of the studies was assessed by the QualSyst systematic review tool.

Results: The search strategy identified 2920 articles. The majority of studies focused on the technical algorithms underlying energy usage data and related sensors. One study was included in this review. This study reported that the smart energy meter data monitoring system was considered unobtrusive and was well accepted by the older people and professionals involved. Energy usage in a household acted as a unique signature and therefore provided useful insight into well-being and safety. This study lacked statistical power due to the small number of participants and the low number of observed events. In addition, the quality of the study was rated as low.

Conclusions: This review identified only 1 study that evaluated the impact of an energy usage monitoring system on the well-being and safety of older people. The absence of reliable evidence impedes any definitive guidance or recommendations for practice. Because this emerging field has not yet been studied thoroughly, many questions remain open for further research. Future studies should focus on the further development of a monitoring system and the evaluation of the implementation and outcomes of these systems.

Trial registration: PROSPERO CRD42022245713; https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?RecordID=245713.

Keywords: activities of daily living; design; devices; effectiveness; healthy aging; independent living; monitoring; older adults; risk; safety; smart energy meter; well-being.