Evaluation of physical activity in the daily life of healthy young subjects with special reference to the reliability and validity of IPAQ as evaluated by a triaxial accelerometer

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the reliability and validity of IPAQ (International Physical Activity Questionnaire; Japanese Version) by comparing the physical activity measured by an activity monitor with IPAQ. Subjects and Methods: IPAQ was evaluated and re-evaluated for one week after the first evaluation of fifty-six healthy students who were in the validity study. Daily physical activity of 16 healthy students was continuously monitored for one week by an activity monitoring and evaluation system (A-MES; triaxial accelerometer). Results: The values of interclass correlation coefficients were all larger than 0.75 suggesting the high reliability of IPAQ. Significant correlations were obtained for total sitting and lying times on holidays. Conclusions: These results suggest the high reliability of IPAQ (Japanese version) and the high validity of the evaluation of physical activity of sitting and lying times on holidays. The data also suggest limitations of IPAQ in the evaluation of walking time in daily life.