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Updated: Mar 18, 2026

Assessment of Physical Activity Intensity with Accelerometers and Oxygen Consumption
Published on: June 20, 2025
Youth Energy Expenditure During Common Free-Living Activities and Treadmill Walking
John M Schuna1, Tiago V Barreria, Daniel S Hsia
1School of Biological and Population Health Sciences, Oregon State University.
Background:
Energy expenditure (EE) estimates for a broad age range of youth performing a variety of activities are needed.
Methods:
106 participants (6-18 years) completed 6 free-living activities (seated rest, movie watching, coloring, stair climbing, basketball dribbling, jumping jacks) and up to 9 treadmill walking bouts (13.4 to 120.7 m/min; 13.4 m/min increments). Breath-by-breath oxygen uptake (VO2) was measured using the COSMED K4b2 and EE was quantified as youth metabolic equivalents (METy1:VO2/measured resting VO2, METy2:VO2/estimated resting VO2). Age trends were evaluated with ANOVA.
Results:
Seated movie watching produced the lowest mean METy1 (6- to 9-year-olds: 0.94 ± 0.13) and METy2 values (13- to 15-year-olds: 1.10 ± 0.19), and jumping jacks produced the highest mean METy1 (13- to 15-year-olds: 6.89 ± 1.47) and METy2 values (16- to 18-year-olds: 8.61 ± 2.03). Significant age-related variability in METy1 and METy2 were noted for 8 and 2 of the 15 evaluated activities, respectively.
Conclusions:
Descriptive EE data presented herein will augment the Youth Compendium of Physical Activities.
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