Validity and reliability of the Yale Physical Activity Survey in Spanish elderly

The purpose of this study was to validate a Spanish version of the Yale Physical Activity Survey (YPAS) in a population of older adults and to estimate its potential for application in routine physical activity assessment in the elderly.

A group of 108 (38 men and 70 women) community dwelling, healthy people aged 61-80 yrs responded twice the questionnaire with an interval of two weeks.

Test-retest correlations were significant for the total time and energy expenditure. A moderate but also significant agreement was found for the different summary indices. Significant correlations were found for all of the checklist activities and mean differences between the first and second administration did not reach statistical significance for any scores. Total time and energy expenditure correlated positively with Caltrac activity units and negatively with body weight. The activity dimension summary index and the individual index of leisure walk were significantly associated with Caltrac units and negatively with the percentage of body fat. The summary index and the individual index of vigorous activity correlated significantly with the body mass index and the moving index with Caltrac units. A positive association was found between body mass and sitting index.

The Spanish version of the YPAS probed to be a reasonable valid and reliable measure of physical activity in older adults.