Concurrent Agreement Between ActiGraph and activPAL for Measuring Physical Activity in Pregnant Women and Office Workers

Abstract

Introduction: Current best practice for objective measurement of sedentary behavior and moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) requires two separate devices. This study assessed concurrent agreement between the ActiGraph GT3X and the activPAL3 micro for measuring MVPA to determine if activPAL can accurately measure MVPA in addition to its known capacity to measure sedentary behavior. Methods: Forty participants from two studies, including pregnant women (n = 20) and desk workers (n = 20), provided objective measurement of MVPA from waist-worn ActiGraph GT3X and thigh-worn activPAL micro3. MVPA from the GT3X was compared with MVPA from the activPAL using metabolic equivalents of task (MET)- and step-based data across three epochs. Intraclass correlation coefficient and Bland–Altman analyses, overall and by study sample, compared MVPA minutes per day across methods. Results: Mean estimates of activPAL MVPA ranged from 22.7 to 35.2 (MET based) and 19.7 to 25.8 (step based) minutes per day, compared with 31.4 min/day (GT3X). MET-based MVPA had high agreement with GT3X, intraclass correlation coefficient ranging from .831 to .875. Bland–Altman analyses revealed minimal bias between 15- and 30-s MET-based MVPA and GT3X MVPA (−3.77 to 8.63 min/day, p > .10) but with wide limits of agreement (greater than ±27 min). Step-based MVPA had moderate to high agreement (intraclass correlation coefficient: .681–.810), but consistently underestimated GT3X MVPA (bias: 5.62–11.74 min/day, p < .02). For all methods, activPAL appears to better estimate GT3X at lower quantities of MVPA. Results were similar when repeated separately by pregnant women and desk workers. Conclusion: activPAL can measure MVPA in addition to sedentary behavior, providing an option for concurrent, single device monitoring. MET-based MVPA using 30-s activPAL epochs provided the best estimate of GT3X MVPA in pregnant women and desk workers.