title: Accelerometer steps/day translation of moderate-to-vigorous activity.
abstract: Physical activity (PA) guidelines are typically communicated in terms of duration, frequency and intensity, e.g., 30 min/day of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) on at least 5 days/week. Step counters can be used to collect objective PA expressed as steps/day, however the association between steps/day and recommended PA levels is unclear.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We determined a direct steps/day translation of 30 min/day accumulated MVPA, using concurrently detected ActiGraph accelerometer-defined step and activity count data collected as part of the 2005-2006 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).
  
  
  METHODS
  We employed statistical models to analyze data from 3523 participants 20+years of age who wore the accelerometer for at least one valid day (i.e., at least 10/24h) over 7 days.
  
  
  RESULTS
  30 min/day of MVPA translated to approximately 7900 steps/day for males and 8300 steps/day for females. In a subsample of participants (n=1197) with valid data on all 7 days, we found 150 min/week of MVPA translated to approximately 7000 steps/day (or 49,000 steps/week).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Accumulating approximately 8000 steps/day is a good proxy for 30 min of daily MVPA, while accumulating 7000 steps/day every day of the week is consistent with obtaining 150 min of weekly MVPA.
authors.affiliation: Walkling Behavior Laboratory, Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, LA 70808, USA. Tudor-Locke@pbrc.edu
authors.forename: Catrine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tudor-Locke
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Leonardi
authors.forename: William D
authors.initials: WD
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Peter T
authors.initials: PT
authors.lastname: Katzmarzyk
authors.forename: Timothy S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Church
mesh_terms: D056044:Actigraphy / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009749:Nutrition Surveys; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013995:Time; D016138:Walking / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult