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Physical activity among children: objective measurements using Fitbit One® and ActiGraph
Lotta Hamari1,2, Tiina Kullberg3, Jukka Ruohonen3
1Department of Nursing Science, University of Turku, 20014, Turku, Finland. lotta.hamari@utu.fi.
BMC Research Notes
|April 22, 2017
Summary
Fitbit One step counts are comparable to Actigraph for children
Area of Science:
- Pediatric physical activity monitoring
- Wearable technology validation
- Health self-quantification
Background:
- Growing popularity of self-quantification in health.
- Need for validity assessments of consumer health devices.
- Focus on Fitbit One and Actigraph wActisleep-BT for children's activity.
Purpose of the Study:
- Evaluate Fitbit One step count validity against Actigraph wActisleep-BT.
- Assess habitual physical activity measurement in children.
- Compare device accuracy across different activity intensities.
Main Methods:
- Cross-sectional experimental design.
- 34 fourth-grade children (9-10 years old) participated.
- Five-day monitoring with two waist-worn activity monitors (Fitbit One and Actigraph).
- Bland-Altman plots used for analysis.
Main Results:
- Average daily difference of 1937 steps between devices.
- Fitbit One generally reported higher step counts.
- Mean bias of 161 steps per hour observed.
- Differences correlated with activity intensity.
Conclusions:
- Fitbit One and Actigraph step counts are comparable for sedentary and light activity in children.
- Fitbit One overestimates step counts during moderate-to-vigorous physical activity.
- Device accuracy varies with activity intensity in pediatric populations.
