title: Establishing school day pedometer step count cut-points using ROC curves in low-income children.
abstract: Previous research has not established pedometer step count cut-points that discriminate children that meet school day physical activity recommendations using a tri-axial ActiGraph accelerometer criterion. The purpose of this study was to determine step count cut-points that associate with 30min of school day moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) in school-aged children. Participants included 1053 school-aged children (mean age=8.4±1.8years) recruited from three low-income schools from the state of Utah in the U.S. Physical activity was assessed using Yamax DigiWalker CW600 pedometers and ActiGraph wGT3X-BT triaxial accelerometers that were concurrently worn during school hours. Data were collected at each school during the 2014-2015 school year. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to determine pedometer step count cut-points that associated with at least 30min of MVPA during school hours. Cut-points were determined using the maximum Youden's J statistic (J max). For the total sample, the area-under-the-curve (AUC) was 0.77 (p<0.001) with a pedometer cut-point of 5505 steps (J max=0.46, Sensitivity=63%, Specificity=84%; Accuracy=76%). Step counts showed greater diagnostic ability in girls (AUC=0.81, p<0.001; Cut-point=5306 steps; Accuracy=78.8%) compared to boys (AUC=0.72, p<0.01; Cut-point=5786 steps; Accuracy=71.4%). Pedometer step counts showed good diagnostic ability in girls and fair diagnostic ability in boys for discriminating children that met at least 30min of MVPA during school hours.
authors.affiliation: Department of Exercise and Sport Science, University of Utah, 250 S. 1850 E. Rm 200, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA. Electronic address: ryan.d.burns@utah.edu.
authors.forename: Ryan D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Burns
authors.affiliation: Department of Exercise and Sport Science, University of Utah, 250 S. 1850 E. Rm 200, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA. Electronic address: tim.brusseau@utah.edu.
authors.forename: Timothy A
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: Brusseau
authors.affiliation: Department of Kinesiology and Sports Sciences, University of Nebraska Kearney, Kearney, 905 W. 25th St. Kearney, NE 68849, USA. Electronic address: fuy2@unk.edu.
authors.forename: You
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: College of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences, West Virginia University, 375 Birch St., Morgantown, WV 26505, USA. Electronic address: jchannon@mail.wvu.edu.
authors.forename: James C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Hannon
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011203:Poverty; D012372:ROC Curve; D012572:School Health Services; D012737:Sex Factors; D014589:Utah; D016138:Walking / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*
keywords: Child; Exercise; Schools