Search

Abstract  Aim of this study was to assess the validity of a short self-administered physical activity questionnaire, intended to measure past year total daily physical activity, by comparison with activity records and accelerometers. Over a 1-year period, data from a questionnaire, 7-day activity records and accelerometers were obtained from a subset of 116 women between the ages of 56 and 75 years from the population-based Swedish Mammography Cohort. We estimated concordance correlations as measure of validity, deattenuated for intraindividual variation in the reference method. Deattenuated concordance correlations comparing total daily activity measured by the questionnaire with the accelerometers and the records were 0.38 (95% CI: 0.22–0.54) and 0.64 (95% CI: 0.45–0.83), respectively. Validity of leisure-time activity (walking/bicycling and exercise) and inactivity (watching TV/reading) estimates comparing the records with the questionnaire were 0.42 (95% CI: 0.22–0.62) and 0.52 (95% CI: 0.36–0.69), respectively. These data indicate that the average past year total physical activity, leisure-time activity and inactivity can be estimated with a reasonable validity using our short self-administered questionnaire. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) was developed to measure health-related physical activity (PA) in populations. The short version of the IPAQ has been tested extensively and is now used in many international studies. The present study aimed to explore the validity characteristics of the long-version IPAQ.Subjects and methods Forty-six voluntary healthy male and female subjects (age, mean±standard deviation: 40.7±10.3 years) participated in the study. PA indicators derived from the long, self-administered IPAQ were compared with data from an activity monitor and a PA log book for concurrent validity, and with aerobic fitness, body mass index (BMI) and percentage body fat for construct validity.Results Strong positive relationships were observed between the activity monitor data and the IPAQ data for total PA (ρ=0.55, P<0.001) and vigorous PA (ρ=0.71, P<0.001), but a weaker relationship for moderate PA (ρ=0.21, P=0.051). Calculated MET-h day−1 from the PA log book was significantly correlated with MET-h day−1 from the IPAQ (ρ=0.67, P<0.001). A weak correlation was observed between IPAQ data for total PA and both aerobic fitness (ρ=0.21, P=0.051) and BMI (ρ=0.25, P=0.009). No significant correlation was observed between percentage body fat and IPAQ variables. Bland–Altman analysis suggested that the inability of activity monitors to detect certain types of activities might introduce a source of error in criterion validation studies.Conclusions The long, self-administered IPAQ questionnaire has acceptable validity when assessing levels and patterns of PA in healthy adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented which discusses articles within the issue on topics covered at the 4th International Conference on Ambulatory Monitoring of Physical Activity and Movement, which focused on the measurement of physical behaviours such as physical activity, sedentary behaviour and sleep.

This study compared common free-living physical activity (PA) outcomes, assessed with the Actigraph GT3X+ accelerometer and processed with two different filter settings, in a sample of elderly individuals with Parkinson´s disease (PD). Sixty-six individuals (73.1  ±  5.8 years) with mild to moderate idiopathic PD carried an accelerometer for 7 d. Data were processed with the default filter setting and a low frequency extension filter (LFE). Significantly larger values were obtained with the LFE for mean counts and steps per day, and for minutes per day in low intensity- and lifestyle activities at moderate intensity, but not for moderate-to vigorous intensity ambulatory activities. The largest difference was observed for mean ± SD steps per day (default = 4730  ±  3210; LFE = 11 117  ±  4553). Intraclass correlation confidence intervals and limits of agreement were generally wide, indicating poor agreement. A sub-study, in which 15 individuals with PD performed a self-paced 3 min walk, demonstrated that neither filter setting differed from video-recorded steps (p ≥ 0.05). This suggests that the LFE might overestimate PA-outcomes in free-living conditions. Until new evidence supporting an extension of the lower filter-band is presented, it is recommended that the default filter setting be used when assessing PA in elderly individuals with PD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]