PALMS+User+Guide+-+Using+Heart+Rate+and+EE+Algorithms

=Using PALMS's Heart Rate and Energy Expenditure Algorithms=

The PALMS Calculation contains algorithms to classify heart rate intensity levels and estimate energy expenditure (EE). To classify heart rate intensity, the participant's age is required. To estimate EE, the participant's weight is required.

To enter the participant's age and weight, these fields must be add to the participant record's schema when the study is created. Then the age and/or weight must be entered when the participant is added to the study.

Adding fields to the participant record

 * To add the age field to a study:**
 * 1) Create a study as described in the User Guide
 * 2) Once created, click the "Study" tab at the top of the screen.
 * 3) Click the "View Schema" button, then click "Participant".
 * 4) Click the "+" (plus sign) at the top of the grid to add a field.
 * 5) Enter the following, then click the "Add button":
 * Attribute Name: age
 * Display Name: Age in years
 * Description: Participant's age
 * PALMS Class: PALMS.Age (select from pull-down menu)
 * The remaining entries will be filled when the class is selected.
 * NOTE: The attribute name MUST be "age" in lower case and the class must be "PALMS.Age".


 * To add the weight field to a study:**
 * 1) Create a study as described in the User Guide
 * 2) Once created, click the "Study" tab at the top of the screen.
 * 3) Click the "View Schema" button, then click "Participant".
 * 4) Click the "+" (plus sign) at the top of the grid to add a field.
 * 5) Enter the following, then click the "Add button":
 * Attribute Name: weight
 * Display Name: Weight in Kgs
 * Description: Participant's weight in kilograms
 * PALMS Class: PALMS.Weight (select from pull-down menu)
 * The remaining entries will be filled when the class is selected.
 * NOTE: The attribute name MUST be "weight" in lower case and the class must be "PALMS.Weight".

Entering participant's age and weight
After the fields are added to the participant schema, they will appear on the "Add Participant" screen. Enter the age and weight as integers. Note they can be changed, if necessary, on the :Edit Participant" screen.

Specifying parameters when running calculations

 * Heart Rate**

Heart rate intensity is classified based on a percentage of the participant's estimated maximum heart rate. The "Max HR formula" parameters provide several methods for estimating maximum heart rate, The default is 220 - age.

If a participant's age has not been specified, the "Default age" field will be used. This may be desirable when the participants are in a narrow age range.

The "HR Classification cutoff" parameters are percentages of Max HR used classify the heart rate into 7 levels.

The defaults are: (% of Max HR). || **Value of hrIntensity** (in result set) ||
 * **Label** || **Default Value**
 * Max effort: ||= 90 ||= 6 ||
 * Anaerobic: ||= 80 ||= 5 ||
 * Aerobic: ||= 70 ||= 4 ||
 * Weight control: ||= 60 ||= 3 ||
 * Moderate: ||= 50 ||= 2 ||
 * Light: ||= 40 ||= 1 ||
 * Resting: ||= 30 ||= 0 ||

Bouts of heart rate activity can be detected; also based on a percentage of Max HR. The default lower limit is 60%; the default upper limit is 100%.


 * EE Estimate**

The "EE Formula" parameter selects the formula to be used to estimate EE. The default is none and the EE column (in the results) to be set to -1 (unknown).

Several vendors provide software that estimate EE at the time the data is downloaded from the device and exported to a CSV file. The "Device Default" option will use this value (if present) and save it in the EE column of the calculations results.

The remaining options are those provided by ActiGraph and validated for their accelerometers. These formulas require the participant's weight in kilograms. If the weight is not provided, the EE column will be set to -1. A warning message will appear in the calculation log file.


 * NOTE:** Should you change these parameters, you may wish to save them under a different name. To do so:
 * 1) Click the "Edit Protocol" button.
 * 2) Click the "Save As" button
 * 3) Enter the new protocol name
 * 4) Click the "Save" button (next to the name field).