Characteristics associated with requested and required accelerometer wear in children

Area of Science:

• Pediatric physical activity research
• Biomedical data collection methods

Background:

• Accurate measurement of physical activity in children is crucial for understanding health behaviors.
• Accelerometer use in research requires adherence to specific wear-time protocols.
• Previous studies have identified various factors influencing device wear time in pediatric populations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify characteristics associated with children aged 8-10 years meeting required and requested accelerometer wear times.
• To inform strategies for improving adherence to accelerometer wear protocols in research.

Main Methods:

• Cross-sectional study involving 2048 children aged 8-10 years from 60 primary schools.
• Children were invited to wear an accelerometer for 5 days.
• Wear-time adherence was assessed against required (≥8 h/day for ≥3 days) and requested (≥8 h/day for 5 days) criteria.

Main Results:

• 80% of children met the required wear time, while 40% met the requested wear time.
• Higher odds of meeting required wear time were associated with being female, higher maternal restriction of sedentary behavior, and larger school year group size.
• Lower odds were associated with living in deprived neighborhoods and higher levels of weekday outdoor play.

Conclusions:

• While a majority of children met the minimum criteria for accelerometer wear, a significant proportion did not meet the full requested duration.
• Identifying factors associated with accelerometer wear adherence is essential for optimizing data collection in pediatric physical activity studies.
• Targeted interventions could potentially increase accelerometer wear time in children.