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Assessing Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity in Older Adults: Validity of a Commercial Activity Tracker.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Briggs, BC; Hall, KS; Jain, C; Macrea, M; Morey, MC; Oursler, KK
Published in: Front Sports Act Living
2021

Purpose: Despite the potential for commercial activity devices to promote moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA), limited information is available in older adults, a high-priority target population with unique gait dynamics and energy expenditure. The study purpose was to investigate the content validity of the Garmin Vivosmart HR device for step counts and MVPA in adults ≥65 years of age in free-living conditions. Methods: Thirty-five participants (M age= 73.7 (6.3) years) wore Garmin and ActiGraph GT3X+ devices for a minimum of 2 days. Accuracy and intra-person reliability were tested against a hip worn ActiGraph device. Separate analyses were conducted using different accelerometer cut-off values to define MVPA, a population-based threshold (≥2,020 counts/minute) and a recommended threshold for older adults (≥1,013 counts/minute). Results: Overall, the Garmin device overestimated MVPA compared with the hip-worn ActiGraph. However, the difference was small using the lower, age-specific, MVPA cut-off value [median (IQR) daily minutes; 50(85) vs. 32(49), p = 0.35] in contrast to the normative standard (50(85) vs. 7(24), p < 0.001). Regardless of the MVPA cut-off, intraclass correlation showed poor reliability [ICC (95% CI); 0.16(-0.40, 0.55) to 0.35(-0.32, 0.7)] which was supported by Bland-Altman plots. Garmin step count was both accurate (M step difference: 178.0, p = 0.22) and reliable [ICC (95% CI; 0.94) (0.88, 0.97)]. Conclusion: Results support the accuracy of a commercial activity device to measure MVPA in older adults but further research in diverse patient populations is needed to determine clinical utility and reliability over time.

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Published In

Front Sports Act Living

DOI

EISSN

2624-9367

Publication Date

2021

Volume

3

Start / End Page

766317

Location

Switzerland

Related Subject Headings

  • 4207 Sports science and exercise
 

Citation

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MLA
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Briggs, B. C., Hall, K. S., Jain, C., Macrea, M., Morey, M. C., & Oursler, K. K. (2021). Assessing Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity in Older Adults: Validity of a Commercial Activity Tracker. Front Sports Act Living, 3, 766317. https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2021.766317
Briggs, Brandon C., Katherine S. Hall, Chani Jain, Madalina Macrea, Miriam C. Morey, and Krisann K. Oursler. “Assessing Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity in Older Adults: Validity of a Commercial Activity Tracker.Front Sports Act Living 3 (2021): 766317. https://doi.org/10.3389/fspor.2021.766317.
Briggs BC, Hall KS, Jain C, Macrea M, Morey MC, Oursler KK. Assessing Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity in Older Adults: Validity of a Commercial Activity Tracker. Front Sports Act Living. 2021;3:766317.
Briggs, Brandon C., et al. “Assessing Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity in Older Adults: Validity of a Commercial Activity Tracker.Front Sports Act Living, vol. 3, 2021, p. 766317. Pubmed, doi:10.3389/fspor.2021.766317.
Briggs BC, Hall KS, Jain C, Macrea M, Morey MC, Oursler KK. Assessing Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity in Older Adults: Validity of a Commercial Activity Tracker. Front Sports Act Living. 2021;3:766317.

Published In

Front Sports Act Living

DOI

EISSN

2624-9367

Publication Date

2021

Volume

3

Start / End Page

766317

Location

Switzerland

Related Subject Headings

  • 4207 Sports science and exercise