Objective Measurement of Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Points to Keep in Mind during Evaluations

Abstract

Objective measurement methods using accelerometers have become the mainstream approach for evaluating physical activity (PA) and sedentary behavior (SB). However, several problems face the objective evaluation of PA and SB in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). For example, indicators of PA differ depending on whether the accelerometer detects the kind of activity on the one hand, or its intensity on the other. Measured data are also strongly influenced by environmental factors (weather, season, employment status, etc.) and methodological factors (days with uncommon activities, non-wearing time, minimum required wearing time per day, minimum number of valid days required, etc.). Therefore, adjusting for these factors is required when evaluating PA or SB, especially when evaluating the effects of intervention. The exclusion of sleeping time, unification of total measurement time, and minimization of the required wearing time per day might be more important for the evaluation of ST than for evaluating PA. The lying-down-time-to-sitting-time ratio was shown to be larger in COPD patients than in healthy subjects. In this review, we clarified the problems encountered during objective evaluations of PA and SB in patients with COPD and encouraged investigators to recognize the presence of these problems and the importance of adjusting for them.