Feasibility and Costs of Monitoring Physical Activity in Young Children Using the Caltrac Accelerometer

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Epidemiology
• Physical Activity Measurement
• Biomedical Engineering

Background:

• Accurate monitoring of physical activity in young children is crucial for understanding health behaviors.
• Existing methods for assessing activity levels in preschoolers can be resource-intensive or subjective.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the feasibility and cost-effectiveness of using the Caltrac accelerometer for monitoring physical activity in 3- to 7-year-old children.
• To determine the reliability and maintenance costs of the Caltrac device in a pediatric cohort.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the Caltrac accelerometer, an electronic motion sensor, to record physical activity data.
• Monitored 1,666 days of data over a scheduled 2-year period across a cohort of young children.
• Tracked device failures, repair needs, and battery expenses to calculate overall costs.

Main Results:

• The Caltrac accelerometer demonstrated a high success rate, with an average failure occurring once every 45 days of monitoring.
• The total cost associated with device usage, including repairs and batteries, averaged $1.31 per day of successful monitoring.
• The study successfully collected substantial physical activity data over the 2-year observation period.

Conclusions:

• The Caltrac accelerometer is a practical and viable tool for assessing physical activity in epidemiological research involving young children.
• The cost-effectiveness and reliability of the Caltrac make it suitable for large-scale studies on child physical activity.
• This monitoring approach offers a valuable method for objective physical activity assessment in pediatric populations.