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Is questionnaire-based sitting time inaccurate and can it be improved? A cross-sectional investigation using
Nidhi Gupta1, Caroline Stordal Christiansen1, Christiana Hanisch2
1National Research Centre for the Working Environment, Copenhagen, Denmark.
BMJ Open
|January 18, 2017
Summary
Self-reported sitting time is inaccurate. A new prediction model using questionnaires and other factors significantly improved accuracy for measuring sedentary behavior, offering a better alternative to accelerometers.
Area of Science:
- Occupational health
- Biomedical engineering
- Physical activity research
Background:
- Accurate measurement of sedentary behavior is crucial for understanding health risks.
- Questionnaire-based assessments of sitting time often lack validity compared to objective measures like accelerometry.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare sitting time measured by questionnaire versus accelerometers.
- To develop a predictive model to enhance the accuracy of questionnaire-based sitting time measurements.
Main Methods:
- A cross-sectional study involving 183 workers who completed a sitting time questionnaire and wore accelerometers for 1-4 days.
- Least squares regression models were used to predict accelerometer-measured sitting time using questionnaire data and other self-reported variables.
Main Results:
- Questionnaire-based sitting time (≈272 min/day) significantly underestimated accelerometer-based time (≈476 min/day), showing low correlation and high bias.
- A prediction model incorporating questionnaire data and 9 self-reported predictors explained 41% of the variance in accelerometer-measured sitting time.
- The developed model reduced the difference between questionnaire and accelerometer measures by 64% in validation.
Conclusions:
- Questionnaire-based sitting time has limited validity for accurately assessing sedentary behavior.
- A multivariable prediction model significantly improves the precision of estimating sitting time from questionnaire data, offering a practical solution.
