Criterion-related validity of the short International Physical Activity Questionnaire against exercise capacity in young adults.
BACKGROUND
Self-reported physical activity (PA) is well associated with cardiorespiratory fitness and exercise capacity. The short International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-short) is a frequently used instrument for cross-national assessments of PA in adults. The purpose of this study was to validate IPAQ-short against exercise capacity in Greek young adults.


METHODS
One hundred and thirteen men and 105 women, aged 20-29 years, were randomly selected from a larger population of young health-science students. A Greek version of IPAQ-short (IPAQ-Gr) was administered to all participants before their exercise capacity evaluation with a maximal Bruce treadmill test. Multiple regression and correlation analyses were used to examine the associations between all IPAQ-Gr outcomes with exercise capacity based on maximal treadmill time.


RESULTS
Spearman's correlations for total and vigorous PA against maximal treadmill time were significant in all groups examined, ranging from 0.35 to 0.43. Moderate and walking PA correlations were poor and nonsignificant, ranging from near-zero values to 0.19. In multiple linear regression analysis, only sex, smoking, and vigorous PA from all personal and log-transformed IPAQ-Gr data were significantly associated with maximal treadmill time. Partial correlation analysis for the overall population, adjusted for sex and smoking, showed that total PA (r=0.37) and vigorous PA (r=0.47) were significantly associated with exercise capacity.


CONCLUSIONS
IPAQ-Gr was tested against exercise capacity and showed acceptable validity properties in Greek young adults. Total and vigorous weekly PA expenditure were well associated with exercise capacity, presenting significant validity correlations against maximal treadmill time.
Papathanasiou
George
G
Department of Physical Therapy, Technological Educational Institution of Athens (TEI-A), Greece. papathanasiou.g@gmail.com
Georgoudis
George
G
Georgakopoulos
Dimitris
D
Katsouras
Christos
C
Kalfakakou
Vasiliki
V
Evangelou
Angelos
A
D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005080:Exercise Test; D017079:Exercise Tolerance; D005260:Female; D006115:Greece / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008019:Life Style; D016014:Linear Models; D008297:Male; D010809:Physical Fitness; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015995:Prevalence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult