Youth Oriented Activity Trackers: Comprehensive Laboratory- and Field-Based Validation.
J Med Internet Res
; 19(7): e250, 2017 07 19.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-28724509
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
Commercial activity trackers are growing in popularity among adults and some are beginning to be marketed to children. There is, however, a paucity of independent research examining the validity of these devices to detect physical activity of different intensity levels.OBJECTIVES:
The purpose of this study was to determine the validity of the output from 3 commercial youth-oriented activity trackers in 3 phases (1) orbital shaker, (2) structured indoor activities, and (3) 4 days of free-living activity.METHODS:
Four units of each activity tracker (Movband [MB], Sqord [SQ], and Zamzee [ZZ]) were tested in an orbital shaker for 5-minutes at three frequencies (1.3, 1.9, and 2.5 Hz). Participants for Phase 2 (N=14) and Phase 3 (N=16) were 6-12 year old children (50% male). For Phase 2, participants completed 9 structured activities while wearing each tracker, the ActiGraph GT3X+ (AG) research accelerometer, and a portable indirect calorimetry system to assess energy expenditure (EE). For Phase 3, participants wore all 4 devices for 4 consecutive days. Correlation coefficients, linear models, and non-parametric statistics evaluated the criterion and construct validity of the activity tracker output.RESULTS:
Output from all devices was significantly associated with oscillation frequency (r=.92-.99). During Phase 2, MB and ZZ only differentiated sedentary from light intensity (P<.01), whereas the SQ significantly differentiated among all intensity categories (all comparisons P<.01), similar to AG and EE. During Phase 3, AG counts were significantly associated with activity tracker output (r=.76, .86, and .59 for the MB, SQ, and ZZ, respectively).CONCLUSIONS:
Across study phases, the SQ demonstrated stronger validity than the MB and ZZ. The validity of youth-oriented activity trackers may directly impact their effectiveness as behavior modification tools, demonstrating a need for more research on such devices.Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Acelerometria
/
Monitores de Aptidão Física
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
Limite:
Adolescent
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Child
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Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2017
Tipo de documento:
Article