Development and Evaluation of Sedentary Time Cut-Points for the activPAL in Adults Using the GGIR R-Package

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to develop sedentary cut-points for the activPAL and evaluate their performance against a criterion measure (i.e., activPAL processed by PALbatch). Part 1: Thirty-five adults (23.4 ± 3.6 years) completed 12 laboratory activities (6 sedentary and 6 non-sedentary activities). Receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves proposed optimal Euclidean Norm Minus One (ENMO) and Mean Amplitude Deviation (MAD) cut-points of 26.4 mg (ENMO) and 30.1 mg (MAD). Part 2: Thirty-eight adults (22.6 ± 4.1 years) wore an activPAL during free-living. Estimates from PALbatch and MAD revealed a mean percent error (MPE) of 2.2%, mean absolute percent error (MAPE) of 6.5%, limits of agreement (LoA) of 19% with absolute and relative equivalence zones of 5% and 0.3 SD. Estimates from PALbatch and ENMO revealed an MPE of −10.6%, MAPE of 14.4%, LoA of 31% and 16% and 1 SD equivalence zones. After standing was isolated from sedentary behaviours, ROC analysis proposed an optimal cut-off of 21.9 mg (herein ENMOs). Estimates from PALbatch and ENMOs revealed an MPE of 3.1%, MAPE of 7.5%, LoA of 25% and 9% and 0.5 SD equivalence zones. The MAD and ENMOs cut-points performed best in discriminating between sedentary and non-sedentary activity during free-living.