Assessment of pedometer accuracy in capturing habitual types of physical activities in overweight and obese children

Pediatr Res. 2016 Nov;80(5):686-692. doi: 10.1038/pr.2016.133. Epub 2016 Jun 24.

Abstract

Background: Currently, there is a limited amount of research exploring physical activity measurement tools in overweight and obese (OW/OB) children using pedometers. Thus, our objective was to determine the accuracy of one spring-levered (SC-T2) and two piezoelectric pedometers (NL-1000 and Piezo) in OW/OB children.

Methods: A total of 26 boys and 34 girls (n = 60) participated. Pedometer step-counts were compared to observed step counts for walking (walking, stair ascent and decent) and hopping tests. Pedometer accuracies were compared with Friedman tests while Bland-Altman plots were used to establish the accuracy of each pedometer against direct observations.

Results: Boys (n = 26) and females (n = 34) were 96 and 91% OB, respectively. The two piezoelectric pedometers (NL-1000 and Piezo) were accurate for walking and stair climbing tasks, however all pedometers were inaccurate for hopping tests. Averaged over all three walking activities, the NL-1000 was the most accurate with 6.7% median error (interquartile range (IQR): 0.0-13.3); followed by the Piezo with 10.0% median error (IQR: 3.3-18.1); SC-T2 was the least accurate with -14.7% median error (IQR: -54.8-3.5).

Conclusion: These results support the use of the piezoelectric pedometers for walking and stair climbing types of activities, which are typical for OW/OB children in a nonlaboratory setting.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01290016.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Actigraphy / instrumentation*
  • Actigraphy / standards*
  • Age Factors
  • Anthropometry
  • Child
  • Exercise
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Monitoring, Ambulatory / instrumentation
  • Monitoring, Ambulatory / standards
  • Overweight / therapy*
  • Pediatric Obesity / prevention & control*
  • Pediatric Obesity / therapy*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Walking*

Associated data

  • ClinicalTrials.gov/NCT01290016