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Updated: Oct 3, 2025
Assessment of Physical Activity Intensity with Accelerometers and Oxygen Consumption
Published on: June 20, 2025
Accelerometer-based estimation of oxygen uptake in adults with Down syndrome: vector magnitude vs. vertical axis
B K Ballenger1, E E Schultz1, M Driskill1
1Department of Kinesiology, Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, USA.
Background:
Triaxial accelerometer output [vector magnitude (VM) counts] may better estimate physical activity intensity as reflected in the rate of oxygen uptake (V̇O2 ) than the traditional vertical axis (VA) counts in adults with Down syndrome (DS). This study examined the accuracy of VM vs. VA counts in estimating V̇O2 in adults with and without DS across different physical activities and sedentary behaviours.
Methods:
Sixteen adults with DS (10 men and 6 women; 31 ± 15 years) and 19 adults without DS (10 men and 9 women; 24 ± 5 years) performed 12 tasks. V̇O2 was measured by portable spirometer (K4b2 , Cosmed) and VM and VA with an accelerometer (wGT3X-BT, Actigraph).
Results:
Vector magnitude and VA were significant predictors of V̇O2 in adults with DS (P < 0.001; R2 = 0.74 and 0.65, respectively) and adults without DS (P < 0.001; P < 0.001; R2 = 0.75 and 0.61, respectively). Absolute error of prediction was significantly smaller for VM than VA for sitting, playing app, drawing, sweeping, standing and basketball (P ≤ 0.005), but smaller for VA than VM for walking at 0.8 m·s-1 (P = 0.005). Bland-Altman plots for adults with and without DS indicated narrower limits of agreement for VM than VA (-5.57 to 5.57 and -6.44 to 6.44 mL·kg-1 ·min-1 ; -6.21 to 6.17 and -7.75 to 7.74 mL·kg-1 ·min-1 , respectively).
Conclusions:
Vector magnitude and VA are significant predictors of V̇O2 in adults with and without DS, yet VM more accurately estimated V̇O2 than VA for most tasks. Development of accelerometer-based prediction of physical activity levels in adults with and without DS may improve by utilising VM counts.
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