Measuring stair use in two office buildings: a comparison between an objective and a self-reported method

Area of Science:

• Occupational Health
• Physical Activity Measurement
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Accurate measurement of stair use is crucial for understanding physical activity levels.
• Traditional self-report methods may not reliably capture individual stair-use behaviors.
• Objective measurement systems offer a potential solution for precise data collection.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the accuracy of self-reported stair use against objective measurements.
• To evaluate the comparability of stair-use frequency and floors covered between two methods.
• To identify factors influencing the agreement between reported and measured stair use.

Main Methods:

• Objective stair use was measured using an innovative registration system at two worksites.
• Self-reported stair use data was collected concurrently for comparison.
• Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were used to analyze comparability for stair-use frequency and floors covered.

Main Results:

• Significant differences in stair use were observed between the two worksites.
• Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) for stair-use frequency were 0.55 (worksites 1) and 0.24 (worksites 2).
• ICCs for floors covered were lower, at 0.39 (worksite 1) and 0.19 (worksite 2).

Conclusions:

• The comparability between self-reported and objectively measured stair use is generally moderate to poor.
• Measurement errors inherent in both methods likely contribute to the observed discrepancies.
• Worksite characteristics appear to influence the comparability of stair-use data.