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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/112229
Physical activity and sedentary behaviour in daily life: A comparative analysis of the Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ) and the SenseWear armband
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Reduction of sedentary time and an increase in physical activity
offer potential to improve public health. However, quantifying
physical activity behaviour under real world conditions is a
major challenge and no standard of good practice is available.
Our aim was to compare the results of physical activity and
sedentary behaviour obtained with a self-reported instrument
(Global Physical Activity Questionnaire (GPAQ)) and a wearable
sensor (SenseWear) in a repeated measures study design. Healthy
adults (41 in Antwerp, 41 in Barcelona and 40 in London) wore
the SenseWear armband for seven consecutive days and completed
the GPAQ on the final day. This was repeated three times. We
used the Wilcoxon signed rank sum test, Spearman correlation
coefficients, mixed effects regression models and Bland-Altman
plots to study agreement between both methods. Mixed models were
used to assess the effect of personal characteristics on the
absolute and relative difference between estimates obtained with
the GPAQ and SenseWear. Moderate to vigorous energy expenditure
and duration derived from the GPAQ were significantly lower
(p<0.05) compared to the SenseWear, yet these variables
showed significant correlations ranging from 0.45 to 0.64.
Estimates of vigorous-intensity physical activity in particular
showed high similarity (r>0.59). Results for sedentary
behaviour did not differ, yet were poorly correlated
(r<0.25). The differences between all variables were
reproducible across repeated measurements. In addition, we
observed a relationship between these differences and BMI, body
fat and physical activity domain. Due to the lack of a
standardized protocol, results from different studies measuring
physical activity and sedentary behaviour are difficult to
compare. Therefore, we suggested an easy-to-implement approach
for future studies adding the GPAQ to the wearable of choice as
a basis for comparisons.
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LAEREMANS, Michelle, et al. Physical activity and sedentary behaviour in daily life: A
comparative analysis of the Global Physical Activity
Questionnaire (GPAQ) and the SenseWear armband. PloS one. 2017. Vol. 12, num. 5, pags. e0177765. ISSN 1932-6203. [consulted: 12 of June of 2026]. Available at: https://hdl.handle.net/2445/112229