Measuring activity levels of young people: the validity of pedometers.
The valid measurement of physical activity has the potential to be a very useful tool in countering the obesity epidemic. Previously, reviews have been carried out to investigate the validity of pedometers among adults. This paper aimed to carry out a similar review among children. A literature search was performed in PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO, CINAHL and SportDISCUS. Here, 25 papers investigating the validity, reliability and feasibility of pedometers for children were included in the study. Pedometers correlated highly in terms of both criterion (direct observation) and convergent validity (heart-rate monitor, accelerometer). Intra- and inter-unit reliability was also consistently high. Few studies report on feasibility issues of pedometer use in children, particularly compliance, reactivity and dealing with missing data. Given that they are both cheap and easy to use, pedometers can be effectively utilized as a valid determinant of physical activity levels among children and adolescents, particularly in large-scale epidemiological studies. There remains a need for accepted outliers and proper protocol regarding missing data.
McNamara
Eoin
E
Centre for Sports and Exercise Medicine, Mile End Hospital, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK. e.mcnamara@qmul.ac.uk
Hudson
Zoe
Z
Taylor
Stephanie J C
SJ
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D018670:Monitoring, Ambulatory / Q000295:instrumentation*; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D012016:Reference Values; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D016138:Walking / Q000502:physiology*