Test–Retest Reliability of activPAL in Measuring Sedentary Behavior and Physical Activity in People With Type 2 Diabetes

Abstract

Background: To investigate how changes in sedentary behavior relate to health outcomes, it is important to establish the test–retest reliability of activity monitors in measuring habitual sedentary behavior in people with type 2 diabetes (T2D) as a prerequisite for interpreting this information. Thus, the authors’ objective was to examine the test–retest reliability of a common activity monitor (activPAL™) in measuring sedentary behavior and physical activity in people with T2D. Methods: Sedentary-time, standing-time, stepping-time, step-count, and sit-to-stand transitions were obtained from two 7-day assessment periods separated by at least 1 week. Test–retest reliability was determined with the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) to compare sedentary and activity measures between the 2 time points. Results: A total of 30 participants with self-reported T2D completed the study (age 65 [6] y, 63% women, body mass index 33.3 [5] kg/m2). High test–retest reliability was found for sedentary-time (ICC = .79; 95% confidence interval [CI], .61–.89) and standing-time (ICC = .74; 95% CI, .53–.87). Very high test–retest reliability was found for stepping-time (ICC = .90; 95% CI, .81–.95), step-count (ICC = .91; 95% CI, .83–.96), and sit-to-stand transitions (ICC = .90; 95% CI, .79–.95). Conclusion: The activPAL™ device showed high to very high test–retest reliability in measuring all tested activity categories in people with T2D.