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Background: This study investigates the association between self-rated health and the time spent in sedentary behavior (SB), low light-intensity physical activity (LLPA), high light-intensity physical activity (HLPA), and moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), by controlling for demographics, socioeconomic status, and chronic diseases. Methods: A total of 1665 participants (55% women) completed a questionnaire about demographics, chronic diseases, and anthropometric characteristics and provided objective physical activity data on time in SB, LLPA, HLPA, and MVPA, using an ActiGraph 7164 accelerometer. Association between self-rated health and activity data was explored in a compositional data analysis. Results: The multinomial logistic regression analysis showed a significantly lower time spent in MVPA in proportion to time in other movement behaviors (SB, LLPA, and HLPA) for participants who rated their health as alright or poor compared with excellent (P Conclusions: Promoting MVPA, as opposed to time in other movement behaviors, is suggested to be beneficial for excellent self-rated health.

Background:The 2016 Swedish Report Card on Physical Activity (PA) for Children and Youth is a unique compilation of the existing physical and health related data in Sweden. The aim of this article is to summarize the procedure and results from the report card.Methods:Nationally representative surveys and individual studies published between 2005–2015 were included. Eleven PA and health indicators were graded using the Active Healthy Kids Canada grading system. Grades were assigned based on the percentage of children/youth meeting a defined benchmark (A: 81% to 100%, B: 61% to 80%, C: 41% to 60%, D: 21% to 40%, F: 0% to 20%, or incomplete (INC).Results:The assigned grades were Overall Physical Activity, D; Organized Sport Participation, B+; Active Play, INC; Active Transportation, C+; Sedentary Behaviors, C; Family and Peers, INC; School, C+; Community and the Built Environment, B; Government Strategies and Investments, B; Diet, C-; and Obesity, D.Conclusions:The included data provides some support that overall PA is too low and sedentary behavior is too high for almost all age groups in Sweden, even with the many national policies as well as an environment that is favorable to the promotion of PA.

Context:The quality of methodological papers assessing physical activity instruments depends upon the rigor of a study’s design.Objectives:We present a checklist to assess key criteria for instrument validation studies.Process:A Medline/PubMed search was performed to identify guidelines for evaluating the methodological quality of instrument validation studies. Based upon the literature, a pilot version of a checklist was developed consisting of 21 items with 3 subscales: 1) quality of the reported data (9 items: assess whether the reported information is sufficient to make an unbiased assessment of the findings); 2) external validity of the results (3 items: assess the extent to which the findings are generalizable); 3) internal validity of the study (9 items: assess the rigor of the study design). The checklist was tested for interrater reliability and feasibility with 6 raters.Findings:Raters viewed the checklist as helpful for reviewing studies. They suggested minor wording changes for 8 items to clarify intent. One item was divided into 2 items for a total of 22 items.Discussion:Checklists may be useful to assess the quality of studies designed to validate physical activity instruments. Future research should test checklist internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and criterion validity.

Background:The purpose of this study was to examine the association between total self-reported health-enhancing physical activity and country of birth among women living in Sweden.Methods:Women (age 18 to 65 years) born in Sweden, Finland, Chile, and Iraq were recruited for this cross-sectional study. Data were collected by means of a postal questionnaire including the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-long version). Self-reported physical activity data were converted to MET-minutes per week and analyzed as continuous or categorical scores. A total of 2649 women were included in the analyses. The association between physical activity and country of birth was explored using ordinal logistic regression assuming proportional odds.Results:The total physical activity differed significantly between the countries of birth (P < .001). Women from Finland had significant higher odds and women from Iraq had significantly lower odds for reporting higher levels of physical activity, compared with Swedish-born women.Conclusions:The direction of the associations between self-reported total health-enhancing physical activity varied by country of birth, which underlines the need to examine physical activity in each minority group separately.

Before the development of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ), population measures of physical activity were country-specific, noncomparable, and mostly developed to assess leisure-time activity. Given the global increases in noncommunicable disease1 the need for internationally comparable physical activity surveillance measures was identified. An initial meeting at World Health Organization Headquarters in 1998 convened a group of physical activity scientists to plan the development and testing of such a measure, resulting in IPAQ. The purpose of this commentary is to reflect upon the first decade of experience with IPAQ, compare its intended to its actual use, and comment on its strengths and weaknesses as an addition to the armamentarium of self-report physical activity measures. IPAQ development was premised on the need to develop international population measurement to assess ‘total physical activity’ across the domains of work, domestic tasks, active transport, and leisure time, because patterns of activity across domains were expected to vary widely by country.2 IPAQ was developed because of the desire for cross-country comparison and international physical activity surveillance. To enhance use across countries, the measures were