title: Comparing the Actical and ActiGraph Approach to Measuring Young Children's Physical Activity Levels and Sedentary Time.
abstract: Young children's activity and sedentary time were simultaneously measured via the Actical method (i.e., Actical accelerometer and specific cut-points) and the ActiGraph method (i.e., ActiGraph accelerometer and specific cut-points) at both 15-s and 60-s epochs to explore possible differences between these 2 measurement approaches. For 7 consecutive days, participants (n = 23) wore both the Actical and ActiGraph side-by-side on an elastic neoprene belt. Device-specific cut-points were applied. Paired sample t tests were conducted to determine the differences in participants' daily average activity levels and sedentary time (min/h) measured by the 2 devices at 15-s and 60-s time sampling intervals. Bland-Altman plots were used to examine agreement between Actical and ActiGraph accelerometers. Regardless of epoch length, Actical accelerometers reported significantly higher rates of sedentary time (15 s: 42.7 min/h vs 33.5 min/h; 60 s: 39.4 min/h vs 27.1 min/h). ActiGraph accelerometers captured significantly higher rates of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (15 s: 9.2 min/h vs 2.6 min/h; 60 s: 8.0 min/h vs 1.27 min/h) and total physical activity (15 s: 31.7 min/h vs 22.3 min/h; 60 s: = 39.4 min/h vs 25.2 min/h) in comparison with Actical accelerometers. These results highlight the present accelerometry-related issues with interpretation of datasets derived from different monitors.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada.
authors.forename: Leigh M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Vanderloo
authors.forename: Natascja A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Di Cristofaro
authors.forename: Nicole A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Proudfoot
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tucker
authors.forename: Brian W
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Timmons
mesh_terms: D061725:Accelerometry / Q000592:standards*; D056044:Actigraphy / Q000592:standards*; D002652:Child Behavior; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D057185:Sedentary Behavior