Validity And Reliability Of The PAQ-C Questionnaire In Spanish Children

Abstract

Physical activity (PA) assessment by questionnaires is a cornerstone in the field of sport epidemiology studies. The Physical Activity Questionnaire for Children (PAQ-C) has been widely used to assess PA in healthy school populations. In order to know more precisely the levels of PA in childhood and the impact on health, it is necessary to develop and validate viable instruments able to measure adequately in Spanish population PURPOSE: To evaluate the reliability and validity of the PAQ-C questionnaire in Spanish children using triaxial accelerometry as criterion. METHODS: Eighty-three (n=46 boys, n=37 girls) healthy children (age 10.98±1.17 years, BMI 19.48±3.51 Kg/m2) were volunteers and completed the PAQ-C twice and wore an accelerometer (Actigraph GT3X) for eight consecutive days. Reliability was analyzed by the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) and the internal-consistency by the Cronbach’s α Coefficient. The PAQ-C was compared against total PA and moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) obtained by accelerometry. RESULTS: Test-retest reliability showed an ICC = 0.96 for the final score of PAQ-C. Small differences between first and second questionnaire administration were detected. Few and low correlations (Rs = 0.228-0.278, all P<0.05) were observed between PAQ-C and accelerometry. The highest correlation was observed for item nine (Rs= 0.311, P<0.01). Bland and Altman plot for Z values of total PA showed significant differences between the PAC-C and the accelerometer. CONCLUSION: PAQ-C had a high reliability but a questionable validity for assessing total PA and MVPA in Spanish children. These findings would suggest that the PAQ-C requires additional development to be a useful measure of PA in Spanish children. Therefore, PA measurement in children should not be only limited to self-report measurements. This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport (AP2010-0583), Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (DEP2011-30565) and the University of Málaga (Campus of International Excellence Andalucía Tech).