Physical Activity Intensity Cut-Points for Wrist-Worn GENEActiv in Older Adults

Abstract

Purpose: This study aims to (1) establish GENEActiv intensity cutpoints in older adults and (2) compare the classification accuracy between dominant (D) or non-dominant (ND) wrist, using both laboratory and free-living data. Methods: Thirty-one older adults participated in the study. They wore a GENEActiv Original on each wrist and performed nine activities of daily living. A portable gas analyzer was used to measure energy expenditure for each task. Testing was performed on two occasions separated by at least 8 days. Some of the same participants ( n = 13) also wore one device on each wrist during 3 days of free-living. Receiver operating characteristic analysis was performed to establish the optimal cutpoints. Results: For sedentary time, both dominant and non-dominant wrist had excellent classification accuracy (sensitivity 0.99 and 0.97, respectively; specificity 0.91 and 0.86, respectively). For Moderate to Vigorous Physical Activity (MVPA), the non-dominant wrist device had better accuracy (ND sensitivity: 0.90, specificity 0.79; D sensitivity: 0.90, specificity 0.64). The corresponding cutpoints for sedentary-to-light were 255 and 375 g · min (epoch independent: 42.5 and 62.5 mg), and those for the light-to-moderate were 588 and 555 g · min (epoch-independent: 98.0 and 92.5 mg) for the non-dominant and dominant wrist, respectively. For free-living data, the dominant wrist device resulted in significantly more sedentary time and significantly less light and MVPA time compared to the non-dominant wrist.