Validity of the international physical activity questionnaire short form (IPAQ-SF): A systematic review

Paul H Lee,Th Lam,Duncan J Macfarlane,Sunita M Stewart

doi:10.1186/1479-5868-8-115

Abstract

BackgroundThe International Physical Activity Questionnaire - Short Form (IPAQ-SF) has been recommended as a cost-effective method to assess physical activity. Several studies validating the IPAQ-SF have been conducted with differing results, but no systematic review of these studies has been reported.MethodsThe keywords "IPAQ", "validation", and "validity" were searched in PubMed and Scopus. Studies published in English that validated the IPAQ-SF against an objective physical activity measuring device, doubly labeled water, or an objective fitness measure were included.ResultsTwenty-three validation studies were included in this review. There was a great deal of variability in the methods used across studies, but the results were largely similar. Correlations between the total physical activity level measured by the IPAQ-SF and objective standards ranged from 0.09 to 0.39; none reached the minimal acceptable standard in the literature (0.50 for objective activity measuring devices, 0.40 for fitness measures). Correlations between sections of the IPAQ-SF for vigorous activity or moderate activity level/walking and an objective standard showed even greater variability (-0.18 to 0.76), yet several reached the minimal acceptable standard. Only six studies provided comparisons between physical activity levels derived from the IPAQ-SF and those obtained from objective criterion. In most studies the IPAQ-SF overestimated physical activity level by 36 to 173 percent; one study underestimated by 28 percent.ConclusionsThe correlation between the IPAQ-SF and objective measures of activity or fitness in the large majority of studies was lower than the acceptable standard. Furthermore, the IPAQ-SF typically overestimated physical activity as measured by objective criterion by an average of 84 percent. Hence, the evidence to support the use of the IPAQ-SF as an indicator of relative or absolute physical activity is weak.

Highlights

With changing social and economic patterns all over the world, sedentary lifestyles have become a worldwide phenomenon [1,2]
We reviewed the studies validating the International Physical Activity Questionnaire - Short Form (IPAQ-SF) as a relative measure and/or an absolute measure of physical activity level
We examined whether the demographics of different samples, the indices derived from objective standards or the IPAQ-SF, or additional moderators which had contributied to the different levels of validity reported

Summary

Introduction

With changing social and economic patterns all over the world, sedentary lifestyles have become a worldwide phenomenon [1,2]. To monitor trends and evaluate public health or individual interventions aiming at increasing levels of physical activity, reliable and valid measures of habitual physical. Recent reviews have documented 85 self-administered physical activity questionnaires for adults [13], 61 for youth [14], and 13 for the elderly [15]. Many of these questionnaires have study-specific items and time referents, severely limiting the potential for comparisons across different studies. The original authors recommended the “last 7 day recall” version of the IPAQ-SF for physical activity surveillance studies [17], in part because the burden on participants to report their activity is small. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire - Short Form (IPAQ-SF) has been recommended as a cost-effective method to assess physical activity. Several studies validating the IPAQ-SF have been conducted with differing results, but no systematic review of these studies has been reported

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion