title: Logistics of using the Actiheart physical activity monitors in urban Mexico among 7- to 9-year-old children.
abstract: Logistics of using new measurement devices are important to understand when developing protocols. This paper discusses the logistics of using Actiheart physical activity monitors on children in an urban, tropical environment in a developing country. Actiheart monitoring of 36 children aged 7-9 years old was undertaken for 7 days in the city of Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico. The Actiheart proved fragile for children and difficult to mend in the field. The excessive sweating due to the tropical climate caused poor adherence of the electrode pads, requiring a pad change midway through and extra pads to be provided. Also extra time was needed to be allotted for increased instructions to participants and their mothers and for individual calibration. When collecting objectively measured physical activity data under harsh conditions, the protocol must accommodate local conditions and device limitations and allow increased time with participants to obtain good quality data.
authors: Centre for Global Health and Human Development, School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Loughborough University, Loughborough LE11 3TU, United Kingdom. H.Wilson@lboro.ac.uk
authors: Hannah
authors: H
authors: Wilson
authors: Federico
authors: F
authors: Dickinson
authors: Paula
authors: P
authors: Griffiths
authors: Barry
authors: B
authors: Bogin
authors: Maria Inês
authors: MI
authors: Varela-Silva
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D004734:Energy Metabolism; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico; D018670:Monitoring, Ambulatory / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D009043:Motor Activity; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014329:Tropical Climate; D014505:Urban Population