Abstract

Background

Generally, correlation and agreement between self-reported and accelerometer-measured physical activity are low. The objective of this study is to compare estimates of physical activity from a newly developed Canadian questionnaire with measurements by accelerometer among 12- to 17-year-olds.

Data and methods

Physical activity was self-reported by domain (transportation, recreation, school, and occupational/household) as part of the new Physical Activity Youth Questionnaire (PAYQ) in the Canadian Health Measures Survey (CHMS; 2014–2017; n = 975) and the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS; 2015-2016; n=7,619). The CHMS also collected moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) data using the Actical accelerometer. Descriptive statistics and correlation and agreement analyses were used to compare and contrast self-reported and accelerometer-measured physical activity variables. Linear regression was used to assess the association between physical activity and obesity.

Results

The average daily MVPA measured by accelerometry was 49.7 minutes per day. According to the PAYQ, Canadian youth reported an average of 78.2 minutes of physical activity per day from all domains, including recreation (31.3 minutes per day), transportation (15.5 minutes per day), school (25.8 minutes per day), and occupational/household (5.6 minutes per day).

According to accelerometer-measured MVPA, 23.1% of youth met the physical activity guideline. The inclusion of all domains of self-reported physical activity resulted in a higher percentage of youth meeting the physical activity guideline (58.6%) than was the case for the recreation domain only (18.5%) or the sum of the recreation and school domains (34.0%). Overall, self-reported and accelerometer-measured physical activity estimates were poorly correlated (R < 0.2).

Interpretation

Population-level estimates of physical activity and the percentage of youth meeting the physical activity guideline were well-aligned between the Actical and the PAYQ; however, large differences were evident at the individual level. Therefore, caution should be exercised in using data from these two methods since their values may not be interchangeable.

Keywords

Data collection, direct measure, health surveys, movement, exercise

DOI: https://www.doi.org/10.25318/82-003-x201900700001-eng

Findings

Physical activity is positively associated with a wide range of physical, psychological, social and cognitive health outcomes in children and youth. Self-report questionnaires are cost-efficient and provide important contextual information about physical activity, but are limited by recall bias and variation in reporting accuracy for different intensities and domains. Accelerometers overcome some of these limitations. However, they do not capture certain types of movement accurately (e.g., cycling, load bearing). Nor do they provide any contextual information about the type or domain of physical activity participation. This information is important for conducting surveillance as it identifies the types and domains of physical activity that are contributing the most and the least to overall physical activity levels. Capturing this contextual information may be particularly challenging in youth, given the more sporadic nature of how they accumulate physical activity throughout the day. [Full article]

Authors

Rachel C. Colley (rachel.colley@canada.ca) and Didier Garriguet are with the Health Analysis Division of Statistics Canada, in Ottawa, Ontario. Gregory Butler, Stephanie A. Prince and Karen C. Roberts are with the Centre for Surveillance and Applied Research at the Public Health Agency of Canada, in Ottawa, Ontario. Stephanie A. Prince is also with the Division of Cardiac Prevention and Rehabilitation at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, in Ottawa, Ontario.

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