Related Experiment Video
Updated: Mar 2, 2026
Assessment of Physical Activity Intensity with Accelerometers and Oxygen Consumption
Published on: June 20, 2025
Evaluation of the activPAL accelerometer for physical activity and energy expenditure estimation in a semi-structured
Alexander H K Montoye1, James M Pivarnik2, Lanay M Mudd3
1Department of Integrative Physiology and Health Science, Alma College, United States.
Objectives:
Evaluate accuracy of the activPAL and its proprietary software for prediction of time spent in physical activity (PA) intensities (sedentary, light, and moderate-to-vigorous) and energy expenditure (EE) and compare its accuracy to that of a machine learning model (ANN) developed from raw activPAL data.
Design:
Semi-structured accelerometer validation in a laboratory setting.
Methods:
Participants (n=41 [20 male]; age=22.0±4.2) completed a 90-min protocol performing 13 activities for 3-10min each and choosing activity order, duration, and intensity. Participants wore an activPAL accelerometer (right thigh) and a portable metabolic analyzer. Criterion measures of time spent in sedentary, light, and moderate-to-vigorous PA were determined using measured MET values of ≤1.5, 1.6-2.9, and ≥3.0, respectively. Estimated times in each PA intensity from the activPAL software and ANN were compared with the criterion using repeated measures ANOVA. Window-by-window EE prediction was assessed using correlations and root mean square error.
Results:
activPAL software-estimated sedentary time was not different from the criterion, but light PA was overestimated (6.2min) and moderate- to vigorous PA was underestimated (4.3min). ANN-estimated sedentary time and light PA were not different from the criterion, but moderate- to vigorous PA was overestimated (1.8min). For EE estimation, the activPAL software had lower correlations (r=0.76 vs. r=0.89) and higher error (1.74 vs. 1.07 METs) than the ANN.
Conclusions:
The ANN had higher accuracy for estimation of EE and PA than the activPAL software in this semi-structured laboratory setting, indicating potential for the ANN to be used in PA assessment.
