The British Journal of Psychiatry 149: 288-293 (1986)
© 1986 The Royal College of Psychiatrists
Monitoring of long-term motor activity in depressed patients
S Royant-Parola, AA Borbely, I Tobler, O Benoit and D Widlocher
Wrist motor activity was continuously recorded by a solid-state monitor in
12 patients with major depression throughout their stay in hospital; their
clinical state was evaluated using three scales. During the day, activity
troughs and immobility peaks occurred before noon and around 1500 hrs.
Activity level progressively increased, while the duration of immobility
decreased, with clinical improvement. The immobility measurement appeared
to be a valuable index of depression and is more sensitive than the
activity level, mainly for agitated depressed patients. Immobility episodes
during the day could suggest the release of an ultradian sleep-wake rhythm
in depression.