Validity of the Active Australia Survey in an Australian cardiac rehabilitation population

Nicole Freene; Susan Hartono; Margaret McManus; Tarryn Mair; Ren Tan; Rachel Davey

doi:10.1016/j.jsams.2024.04.016

Validity of the Active Australia Survey in an Australian cardiac rehabilitation population

J Sci Med Sport. 2024 May 5:S1440-2440(24)00146-4. doi: 10.1016/j.jsams.2024.04.016. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Nicole Freene¹, Susan Hartono², Margaret McManus³, Tarryn Mair⁴, Ren Tan⁵, Rachel Davey⁶

Affiliations

¹ Physiotherapy, Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, Australia; Health Research Institute, University of Canberra, Australia. Electronic address: nicole.freene@canberra.edu.au.
² Health Research Institute, University of Canberra, Australia. Electronic address: Susan.Hartono@canberra.edu.au.
³ Cardiology, Canberra Health Services, Australia. Electronic address: Margaret.McManus@act.gov.au.
⁴ Exercise Physiology, Canberra Health Services, Australia. Electronic address: Tarryn.Mair@act.gov.au.
⁵ Cardiology, Canberra Health Services, Australia. Electronic address: ren.tan@act.gov.au.
⁶ Health Research Institute, University of Canberra, Australia. Electronic address: Rachel.Davey@canberra.edu.au.

PMID: 38755027
DOI: 10.1016/j.jsams.2024.04.016

Abstract

Objectives: To examine the long-term validity of the Active Australia Survey in a cardiac rehabilitation population using accelerometry as the reference measure.

Design: Cohort validation study.

Methods: Cardiac rehabilitation participants with coronary heart disease were recruited to a prospective cohort study. Over 7-days, 61 participants wore an ActiGraph ActiSleep accelerometer (1-second epoch, 10-minute bout) and completed the self-administered Active Australia Survey at baseline, 6-weeks, 6 and 12-months. Total daily moderate-to-vigorous physical activity from both methods was compared using Bland-Altman plots and Spearman rank-order correlations.

Results: Participants tended to over-report moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, with more active participants more likely to over-report moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. There was a good level of agreement between the accelerometer 1-second epochs and Active Australia Survey at all time points (mean bias (ratio) 1.04, 1.16, 1.14, and 1.06, respectively), with weak-moderate correlations (ρ = 0.3-0.48). Conversely, there was a poor level of agreement between the accelerometer 10-minute bouts and Active Australia Survey at all time points (mean bias (ratio) 6.78, 9.09, 6.35, and 5.68, respectively), with weak-moderate correlations (ρ = 0.3-0.52). Agreement between the two measures did not improve over time for both 1-second and 10-minute bout accelerometry data.

Conclusions: The Active Australia Survey may be an acceptable self-report measure of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity in cardiac rehabilitation attendees when capturing any time spent in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. The Active Australia Survey may be useful to routinely monitor physical activity levels over-time in Australian cardiac rehabilitation programs at both individual and group levels.

Trial registration: Trial registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR): ACTRN12615000995572, http://www.ANZCTR.org.au/ACTRN12615000995572.aspx.

Keywords: Accelerometry; Coronary heart disease; Physical activity; Questionnaire; Self-report; Validation.