Reliability and validity of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form for older adults in Vietnam.

ISSUES ADDRESSED: The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) was developed as a global standard questionnaire to monitor physical activity across diverse populations. In Vietnam, the IPAQ-Short Form (SF) has only been tested for reliability and validity among adolescents. The present study determined test-retest reliability and criterion validity of the IPAQ-SF for older Vietnamese adults aged 60-75 years. METHODS: In all, 197 participants were recruited from the community. Subjects were requested to wear a pedometer, record daily steps and list all physical activities in a log-book for 7 consecutive days. Those who completed the requirements were interviewed using the IPAQ-SF (IPAQ1). A repeated interview was arranged 3 days later (IPAQ2). RESULTS: The final sample consisted of 150 participants (75 men, 75 women) with mean (± s.d.) age of 66.8±5.1 years. The intraclass correlation coefficients between IPAQ1 and IPAQ2 exceeded 0.80 for all physical activity domains and sitting, indicating good reliability. However, fair to weak validity was evident between IPAQ1 measures and activity log and pedometer readings, with Spearman correlations of 0.46 and 0.20, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The Vietnamese translated version of IPAQ-SF appears to be a reliable and reasonably valid instrument to assess and monitor habitual physical activity for older adults in Vietnam. SO WHAT? The IPAQ-SF could provide useful physical activity data to evaluate the effectiveness of health promotion intervention programs and for international comparison purposes.

Prevalence of risk factors for non-communicable diseases in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam: results from a STEPS survey.

BACKGROUND: Despite the increasing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCD) in Vietnam, information on the prevalence of preventable risk factors for NCD is restricted to the main urban centres of Ha Noi, and Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC). This population-based survey aimed to describe the prevalence of risk factors for NCD in a rural Vietnamese sample. METHODS: This survey was conducted using the WHO "STEPwise approach to surveillance of non-communicable diseases" (STEPS) methodology. Participants (n=1978) were residents of the Mekong Delta region selected by multi-stage sampling. Standardised international protocols were used to measure behavioural risk factors (smoking, alcohol consumption, fruit and vegetable consumption, physical activity), physical characteristics (weight, height, waist and hip circumferences, blood pressure--BP), fasting blood glucose (BG) and total cholesterol (TC). Data were analysed using complex survey analysis methods. RESULTS: In this sample, 8.8% of men and 12.6% of women were overweight (body mass index (BMI)>or=25 kg/m2) and 2.3% of men and 1.5% of women were obese (BMI>or=30 kg/m2). The prevalence of hypertension (systolic BP>or=140 mmHg and/or diastolic BP>or=90 mmHg, or taking medication for hypertension) was 27.3% for men and 16.2% for women. There were 1.0% of men and 1.1% of women with raised BG (defined as capillary whole BG of at least 6.1 mmol/L). CONCLUSION: We provide the first NCD risk factor profile of people living in the Mekong Delta of Vietnam using standardised methodology. Our findings for this predominantly rural sample differ from previous studies conducted in Ha Noi and HCMC, and suggest that it is inappropriate to generalise findings from the big-city surveys to the other 80% of the population.

Misclassification of blood pressure of Vietnamese adults when only a single measurement is used.

A single clinic measurement of blood pressure (BP) may be common in low- and middle-income countries because of limited medical resources. This study aimed to examine the potential misclassification error when only one BP measurement is used. Participants (n = 14,706, 53.5% females) aged 25-64 years were selected by multistage stratified cluster sampling from eight provinces, each representing one of the eight geographical regions of Vietnam. Measurements were made using the World Health Organization STEPS protocols. Data were analyzed using complex survey methods. For systolic BP, 62.7% had a higher first reading whereas 30.0% had a lower first reading, and 27.3% had a reduction of at least 5 mmHg whereas 9.6% had an increase of at least 5 mmHg. Irrespective of direction of change, increased variability in BP was associated with greater age, urban living, greater body size and fatness, reduced physical activity levels, elevated glucose, and raised total cholesterol. These measurement variations would lead to substantial misclassification in diagnosis of hypertension based on a single reading because almost 20% of subjects would receive a different diagnosis based on the mean of two readings.