Measurement of activity in older adults: reliability and validity of the Step Activity Monitor

The purpose of this study was to test the reliability and validity of the Step Activity Monitor (SAM) when used with older adults. A total of 30 subjects with a mean age of 86 +/- 6.1 participated in the study. Sixty one-minute walks were measured with the SAM, and two observers visually counted steps. Four participants wore the SAM for 6 to 48 hours and maintained activity diaries. The intraclass correlation for the SAM recordings was R = .84. There was an overall step counting accuracy of 96%. The diaries supported the SAM data for those who wore the SAM for extended periods. The SAM is an easy to use, comfortable, valid, and reliable measure of activity in older adults and particularly may be useful to triangulate measurement of activity in these individuals.