Relative validity and repeatability of a new questionnaire on physical activity

Area of Science:

• Nutrition and Dietetics
• Exercise Physiology
• Epidemiology

Background:

• A novel physical activity questionnaire was created to assess individual daily energy expenditure.
• The questionnaire quantifies energy expenditure based on time spent in various activities.
• A pilot study involving 126 Dutch adults evaluated the questionnaire's repeatability and validity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the repeatability of the physical activity questionnaire over time.
• To assess the validity of the questionnaire against a reference activity diary.
• To establish the questionnaire's utility in estimating energy expenditure for epidemiological studies.

Main Methods:

• Repeatability was assessed by administering the questionnaire three times within a year.
• Validity was evaluated using a reference instrument: a 3-day activity diary, repeated four times.
• Statistical analyses included Spearman's test-retest correlation and correlation between questionnaire and diary data.

Main Results:

• Mean energy expenditure estimates showed minimal and non-significant differences across repeated questionnaire administrations.
• Strong test-retest correlation coefficients for total energy expenditure were observed in both men (0.76-0.70) and women (0.58-0.71) at different time points.
• Significant correlations were found between questionnaire and diary energy expenditure (men: 0.66, women: 0.43), with a trend of increasing diary expenditure across questionnaire tertiles.

Conclusions:

• The developed physical activity questionnaire exhibits good repeatability and validity.
• The findings support the questionnaire as a valuable instrument for estimating energy expenditure in large-scale epidemiological studies.
• This tool can aid in understanding physical activity patterns and their relationship with energy expenditure in diverse populations.