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Published on: March 7, 2019
Validation of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short among Blacks
Kathleen Y Wolin1, Daniel P Heil, Sandy Askew
1Department of Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO 63110, USA.
Background:
The International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ-S) has been evaluated against accelerometer-determined physical activity measures in small homogenous samples of adults in the United States. There is limited information about the validity of the IPAQ-S in diverse US samples.
Methods:
142 Blacks residing in low-income housing completed the IPAQ-S and wore an accelerometer for up to 6 days. Both 1- and 10-minute accelerometer bouts were used to define time spent in light, moderate, and vigorous physical activity.
Results:
We found fair agreement between the IPAQ-S and accelerometer-determined physical activity (r=.26 for 10-minute bout, r=.36 for 1-minute bout). Correlations were higher among men than women. When we classified participants as meeting physical activity recommendations, agreement was low (kappa=.04, 10-minute; kappa=.21, 1-minute); only 25% of individuals were classified the same by both instruments (10-minute bout).
Conclusions:
In one of the few studies to assess the validity of a self-reported physical activity measure among Blacks, we found moderate correlations with accelerometer data, though correlations were weaker for women. Correlations were smaller when IPAQ-S data were compared using a 10- versus a 1-minute bout definition. There was limited evidence for agreement between the instruments when classifying participants as meeting physical activity recommendations.
