VALIDITY OF A QUESTIONNAIRE TO ASSESS HISTORICAL LEISURE PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN POSTMENOPAUSAL WOMEN

Abstract

When assessing physical activity levels, the time frame that the measurement instrument encompasses should be determined by the specific health outcome of interest. Valid measures of historical physical activity must be available to use in the assessment of chronic diseases that have a long developmental period. PURPOSE To compare historical physical activity recall to physical activity questionnaires collected over a 17-year period in postmenopausal women. METHODS This study used data gathered from a clinical trial of a walking intervention and the subsequent follow-up in 165 white post-menopausal women (74±4 yrs). Physical activity levels were measured with a modified version of the Paffenbarger Physical Activity Questionnaire at four time points (1982,1985,1995,1999) throughout the duration of the study. The historical questionnaire asked the women to report in 1999/2000 what physical activity they had participated in for the years 1982, 1985, 1995, and 1999. Spearman correlation coefficients were used to compare subject's historical recall of activity by questionnaire for each time period to the original questionnaire for that time period. RESULTSTable: No Caption AvailableCONCLUSION It appears that historical recall of leisure physical activity can be validly assessed over a 17-year period in this population.