Abstract
BackgroundTime spent sedentary appears to be associated with several health outcomes in adults, but findings are inconsistent in children. Further, the assessment of sedentary time represents a major challenge. The objectives of the present study were to determine whether 1) ActiGraph GT3X+, ActivPAL and SenseWear Armband Pro3 (SWA) provide comparable estimates of sedentary time in 9–12-year-old children, 2) these devices are valid compared with direct observation, and 3) ActivPAL discriminates between sitting and standing behavior.MethodsThe sample was 67 children. Data were collected during three consecutive days in November 2012. To test the activity monitors in contexts related to physical and sedentary activities commonly performed by children, the children participated in sessions of activity while sitting (watching television, playing video games and tossing a ball while sitting) and standing (musical chairs, active video gaming and tossing a ball) while wearing three different activity monitors at the same time. All activity sessions were observed by two researchers. Differences between monitors were determined using Friedman’s two-way analysis of variance by rank order.ResultsMinutes of estimated sedentary time differed across device brands during combined sitting activities: SWA vs. ActiGraph GT3X+ (P = 0.048), SWA vs. ActivPAL, (P < 0.001) and ActiGraph GT3X+ vs. ActivPAL (P = 0.002). Out of 12 min in total of combined recorded sitting activity, SWA reported a median of 6 min (95 % Confidence Interval [CI] = 5.0, 7.0), ActiGraph GT3X+ 7 min (7.0, 8.0) and ActivPAL 10 min (8.6, 10.8) as sedentary time. ActivPAL recorded 3.7 (2.4, 4.0) minutes of the non-sitting activities ‘musical chairs’, 4.0 (4.0, 4.0) minutes in ‘standing ball toss’; and 4.0 (2.7, 4.0) minutes in ‘active video gaming’ as sitting time.ConclusionRecorded sedentary time varied among the monitors GT3X+, SWA and ActivPAL, and misclassification of standing activities as sitting activities were apparent for ActivPAL in certain activities.
Highlights
Time spent sedentary appears to be associated with several health outcomes in adults, but findings are inconsistent in children
ActiGraph GT3X+ (ActiGraph, Pensacola, FL, USA), a hip-worn accelerometer, ActivPALTM (ActivPAL Technologies Ltd., Glasgow, UK), an inclinometer worn on the leg between the knee and hip, and SenseWear Armband Pro3 (SWA, BodyMedia Inc., Pittsburgh, PA, USA), a multisensor activity monitor worn on the arm, are three commonly used activity monitors that have been used previously to record sedentary time in children [13,14,15]
ActivPAL recorded significantly more sedentary time (P < 0.001) during four of the six activities compared with both SWA and GT3X+
Summary
Time spent sedentary appears to be associated with several health outcomes in adults, but findings are inconsistent in children. In other studies in which accelerometers are used, associations are not always found between objectively recorded sedentary time and health risks [8,9,10], especially when adjusting for moderate- to vigorous intensity physical activity [10]. Further understanding the objective relations between sedentary time and health risks in children is dependent on the use of valid assessment methods. ActiGraph GT3X+ (ActiGraph, Pensacola, FL, USA), a hip-worn accelerometer, ActivPALTM (ActivPAL Technologies Ltd., Glasgow, UK), an inclinometer worn on the leg between the knee and hip, and SenseWear Armband Pro (SWA, BodyMedia Inc., Pittsburgh, PA, USA), a multisensor activity monitor worn on the arm, are three commonly used activity monitors that have been used previously to record sedentary time in children [13,14,15]
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