Validity of questionnaire-based assessment of sedentary behaviour and physical activity in a population-based cohort of older men; comparisons with objectively measured physical activity data

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Abstract

Background

Older adults are the most inactive age group and self-reporting of activities may be complicated by age-related reductions in structured activities and misclassification or recall biases. We investigate the validity of simple questionnaires about sedentary behaviour (SB), (including the widely used proxy television (TV) viewing), and physical activity (PA) in comparison with objective measures.

Methods

Community dwelling men aged 71–93 years, from a UK population-based cohort wore a GT3X accelerometer over the right hip for 7 days and self-completed a questionnaire including information about SB (TV, reading, computer use and car use) and PA (leisure and sporting domains).

Results

1566/3137 surviving men (mean age 79 years) attended. 1377 ambulatory men provided questionnaire and accelerometer data. Questionnaires under-estimated mean daily sedentary time; 317 minutes total SB (TV, computer use, reading or driving), 176 minutes (TV) vs 619 minutes (objectively measured). Correlations between objective measures and self-reports were 0.18 (total SB) and 0.17 (TV), both P < 0.001. Objective SB levels were similar across the lowest three quartiles of self-reported SB but raised in the highest quartile. Correlations between steps/day or moderate to vigorous PA with self-reported total PA were both 0.49, P < 0.001 and measured PA levels were progressively higher at higher levels of self-reported PA.

Conclusions

Among older men, simple SB questions performed poorly for identifying total SB time, although simple PA questions were associated with a graded increase with objectively measured PA. Future studies of health effects of SB in older men would benefit from objective measures of SB.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12966-016-0338-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Most cited references 52

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A comparison of direct versus self-report measures for assessing physical activity in adults: a systematic review

Stephanie A Prince, Kristi Adamo, Meghan E Hamel … (2008)

Background Accurate assessment is required to assess current and changing physical activity levels, and to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions designed to increase activity levels. This study systematically reviewed the literature to determine the extent of agreement between subjectively (self-report e.g. questionnaire, diary) and objectively (directly measured; e.g. accelerometry, doubly labeled water) assessed physical activity in adults. Methods Eight electronic databases were searched to identify observational and experimental studies of adult populations. Searching identified 4,463 potential articles. Initial screening found that 293 examined the relationship between self-reported and directly measured physical activity and met the eligibility criteria. Data abstraction was completed for 187 articles, which described comparable data and/or comparisons, while 76 articles lacked comparable data or comparisons, and a further 30 did not meet the review's eligibility requirements. A risk of bias assessment was conducted for all articles from which data was abstracted. Results Correlations between self-report and direct measures were generally low-to-moderate and ranged from -0.71 to 0.96. No clear pattern emerged for the mean differences between self-report and direct measures of physical activity. Trends differed by measure of physical activity employed, level of physical activity measured, and the gender of participants. Results of the risk of bias assessment indicated that 38% of the studies had lower quality scores. Conclusion The findings suggest that the measurement method may have a significant impact on the observed levels of physical activity. Self-report measures of physical activity were both higher and lower than directly measured levels of physical activity, which poses a problem for both reliance on self-report measures and for attempts to correct for self-report – direct measure differences. This review reveals the need for valid, accurate and reliable measures of physical activity in evaluating current and changing physical activity levels, physical activity interventions, and the relationships between physical activity and health outcomes.

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Compendium of physical activities: classification of energy costs of human physical activities.

B E Ainsworth, W Haskell, A Leon … (1993)

A coding scheme is presented for classifying physical activity by rate of energy expenditure, i.e., by intensity. Energy cost was established by a review of published and unpublished data. This coding scheme employs five digits that classify activity by purpose (i.e., sports, occupation, self-care), the specific type of activity, and its intensity as the ratio of work metabolic rate to resting metabolic rate (METs). Energy expenditure in kilocalories or kilocalories per kilogram body weight can be estimated for all activities, specific activities, or activity types. General use of this coding system would enhance the comparability of results across studies using self reports of physical activity.

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Sedentary time in adults and the association with diabetes, cardiovascular disease and death: systematic review and meta-analysis.

E Wilmot, C L Edwardson, F. A. Achana … (2012)

Sedentary (sitting) behaviours are ubiquitous in modern society. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to examine the association of sedentary time with diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. Medline, Embase and the Cochrane Library databases were searched for terms related to sedentary time and health outcomes. Cross-sectional and prospective studies were included. RR/HR and 95% CIs were extracted by two independent reviewers. Data were adjusted for baseline event rate and pooled using a random-effects model. Bayesian predictive effects and intervals were calculated to indicate the variance in outcomes that would be expected if new studies were conducted in the future. Eighteen studies (16 prospective, two cross-sectional) were included, with 794,577 participants. Fifteen of these studies were moderate to high quality. The greatest sedentary time compared with the lowest was associated with a 112% increase in the RR of diabetes (RR 2.12; 95% credible interval [CrI] 1.61, 2.78), a 147% increase in the RR of cardiovascular events (RR 2.47; 95% CI 1.44, 4.24), a 90% increase in the risk of cardiovascular mortality (HR 1.90; 95% CrI 1.36, 2.66) and a 49% increase in the risk of all-cause mortality (HR 1.49; 95% CrI 1.14, 2.03). The predictive effects and intervals were only significant for diabetes. Sedentary time is associated with an increased risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular and all-cause mortality; the strength of the association is most consistent for diabetes.

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Author and article information

Contributors

Barbara J. Jefferis:

ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0850-3177

+44 207 794 0500 , b.jefferis@ucl.ac.uk

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act

Title: The International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity

Publisher: BioMed Central (London )

ISSN (Electronic): 1479-5868

Publication date (Electronic): 4 February 2016

Publication date PMC-release: 4 February 2016

Publication date Collection: 2016

Volume: 13

Electronic Location Identifier: 14

Affiliations

[ ]UCL Department of Primary Care & Population Health, UCL Medical School, Rowland Hill Street, London, NW3 2PF UK

[ ]UCL Physical Activity Research Group, University College London, London, UK

[ ]Population Health Research Institute, St George’s University of London, Cranmer Terrace, London, SW17 0RE UK

Author information

Barbara J. Jefferis http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0850-3177

Article

Publisher ID: 338

DOI: 10.1186/s12966-016-0338-1

PMC ID: 4743260

PubMed ID: 26847215

SO-VID: 9355b205-9cd9-4b14-aaf3-b3976771032f

License:

Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver ( http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.

History

Date received : 15 August 2015

Date accepted : 26 January 2016

Funding

Funded by: FundRef http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000274, British Heart Foundation (GB);

Award ID: PG/13/86/30546

Award Recipient : Barbara J. Jefferis

Funded by: FundRef http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000659, Research Trainees Coordinating Centre (GB);

Award ID: 2010–03–023

Award Recipient : Barbara J. Jefferis

Funded by: FundRef http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000274, British Heart Foundation (GB);

Award ID: RG/08/013/25942

Award ID: RG/13/16/30528

Award Recipient : S. Goya Wannamethee Peter H. Whincup

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Nutrition & Dietetics

Keywords: older adults,sedentary behaviour,physical activity,questionnaire,accelerometer,cohort study

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ScienceOpen disciplines: Nutrition & Dietetics

Keywords: older adults, sedentary behaviour, physical activity, questionnaire, accelerometer, cohort study

Validity of questionnaire-based assessment of sedentary behaviour and physical activity in a population-based cohort of older men; comparisons with objectively measured physical activity data

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Most cited references 52

A comparison of direct versus self-report measures for assessing physical activity in adults: a systematic review

Compendium of physical activities: classification of energy costs of human physical activities.

Sedentary time in adults and the association with diabetes, cardiovascular disease and death: systematic review and meta-analysis.

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