Comparability of children's sedentary time estimates derived from wrist worn GENEActiv and hip worn ActiGraph accelerometer thresholds

Lynne M Boddy; Robert J Noonan; Youngwon Kim; Alex V Rowlands; Greg J Welk; Zoe R Knowles; Stuart J Fairclough

doi:10.1016/j.jsams.2018.03.015

Comparability of children's sedentary time estimates derived from wrist worn GENEActiv and hip worn ActiGraph accelerometer thresholds

J Sci Med Sport. 2018 Oct;21(10):1045-1049. doi: 10.1016/j.jsams.2018.03.015. Epub 2018 Mar 28.

Authors

Lynne M Boddy¹, Robert J Noonan², Youngwon Kim³, Alex V Rowlands⁴, Greg J Welk⁵, Zoe R Knowles⁶, Stuart J Fairclough⁷

Affiliations

¹ Physical Activity Exchange, Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, UK. Electronic address: L.M.Boddy@ljmu.ac.uk.
² Physical Activity Exchange, Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, UK; Department of Sport and Physical Activity, Edge Hill University, UK.
³ Department of Health, Kinesiology and Recreation, College of Health, University of Utah, United States; MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge School of Clinical Medicine, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, UK.
⁴ Diabetes Research Centre, University of Leicester, Leicester General Hospital, UK; NIHR Leicester Biomedical Research Centre, UK; Alliance for Research in Exercise, Nutrition and Activity (ARENA), Sansom Institute for Health Research, Division of Health Sciences, University of South Australia, Australia.
⁵ Department of Kinesiology, College of Human Sciences, Iowa State University, United States.
⁶ Physical Activity Exchange, Research Institute for Sport and Exercise Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, UK.
⁷ Department of Sport and Physical Activity, Edge Hill University, UK; Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, University of Limerick, Ireland.

PMID: 29650338
DOI: 10.1016/j.jsams.2018.03.015

Abstract

Objectives: To examine the comparability of children's free-living sedentary time (ST) derived from raw acceleration thresholds for wrist mounted GENEActiv accelerometer data, with ST estimated using the waist mounted ActiGraph 100count·min^-1 threshold.

Design: Secondary data analysis.

Method: 108 10-11-year-old children (n=43 boys) from Liverpool, UK wore one ActiGraph GT3X+ and one GENEActiv accelerometer on their right hip and left wrist, respectively for seven days. Signal vector magnitude (SVM; mg) was calculated using the ENMO approach for GENEActiv data. ST was estimated from hip-worn ActiGraph data, applying the widely used 100count·min^-1 threshold. ROC analysis using 10-fold hold-out cross-validation was conducted to establish a wrist-worn GENEActiv threshold comparable to the hip ActiGraph 100count·min^-1 threshold. GENEActiv data were also classified using three empirical wrist thresholds and equivalence testing was completed.

Results: Analysis indicated that a GENEActiv SVM value of 51mg demonstrated fair to moderate agreement (Kappa: 0.32-0.41) with the 100count·min^-1 threshold. However, the generated and empirical thresholds for GENEActiv devices were not significantly equivalent to ActiGraph 100count·min^-1. GENEActiv data classified using the 35.6mg threshold intended for ActiGraph devices generated significantly equivalent ST estimates as the ActiGraph 100count·min^-1.

Conclusions: The newly generated and empirical GENEActiv wrist thresholds do not provide equivalent estimates of ST to the ActiGraph 100count·min^-1 approach. More investigation is required to assess the validity of applying ActiGraph cutpoints to GENEActiv data. Future studies are needed to examine the backward compatibility of ST data and to produce a robust method of classifying SVM-derived ST.

Keywords: Accelerometry; Children; Inactivity; Measurement; Physical activity.

Publication types

Comparative Study

MeSH terms

Actigraphy / instrumentation*
Child
Exercise*
Female
Hip*
Humans
Male
ROC Curve
Sedentary Behavior
Wearable Electronic Devices
Wrist*