Validity and reproducibility of a physical activity questionnaire in women.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the validity and reproducibility of a self-administered physical activity questionnaire that assesses the frequency, intensity, and duration of recreational, household, and occupational activity in women.


METHODS
The questionnaire was administered by mail twice to 131 participants 1 yr apart. During this interval, participants completed four 1-wk activity logs corresponding to different seasons throughout the year.


RESULTS
The intraclass correlation coefficients used to measure reproducibility were 0.82 for total activity, 0.79 for moderate activity, 0.86 for vigorous activity, 0.80 for recreational activity, and 0.73 for household activity. The distribution of activity scores was similar between the questionnaires and the average of the four logs, indicating the participants' ability to incorporate seasonal variation into their recall on a questionnaire. The correlations between the questionnaire-based activity scores and log-based activity scores, indicating validity, were 0.26 for total activity, 0.15 for moderate activity, and 0.52 for vigorous activity. Women younger than age 50 tended to have higher validity scores than women aged 50 yr and older (r = 0.31 vs r = 0.19, respectively, for total activity).


CONCLUSIONS
These data indicate that this physical activity questionnaire is reproducible and provides a useful measure of current activity, particularly vigorous activity, over a 1-yr period.
Chasan-Taber
Lisa
L
Department of Biostatistics & Epidemiology, School of Public Health & Health Sciences, University of Massachusetts, Amherst 01003-9304, USA. LCT@schoolph.umass.edu
Erickson
J Bianca
JB
Nasca
Philip C
PC
Chasan-Taber
Scott
S
Freedson
Patty S
PS
D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D015331:Cohort Studies; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D008875:Middle Aged; D011998:Recreation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*