Assessment of the physical activity level with two questions: validation with doubly labeled water

• Published in: International Journal of Obesity Vol. 32; no. 6; pp. 1031 - 1033
• Main Authors: Johansson, G, Westerterp, K.R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.06.2008; Nature Publishing; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: Adult; adults; Aged; basal metabolic rate; Basal Metabolism; Basal Metabolism - physiology; Biological and medical sciences; Body mass index; diagnostic use; Doubly labeled water; Doubly labeled water method; Employment; Energy; Energy expenditure; Energy Metabolism; Energy Metabolism - physiology; Epidemiology; Exercise; Female; Folkhälsomedicinska forskningsområden; Folkhälsovetenskap; Health Promotion and Disease Prevention; Humans; Internal Medicine; Leisure; Leisure Activities; Light; Male; Mass Spectrometry; measurement; Medical sciences; MEDICIN; MEDICINE; Medicine & Public Health; Metabolic Diseases; Metabolism; Middle Aged; model validation; new methods; Nutrition research; Obesity; physical activity; Physical activity questionnaire; Physical Exertion; Physical Exertion - physiology; Physiological aspects; physiology; Public Health; Public health medicine research areas; Public health science; Questionnaires; Radioisotope Dilution Technique; Reproducibility of Results; short-communication; Social medicine; Socialmedicin; Surveys and Questionnaires; Surveys and Questionnaires - standards; Urine; Validation; Water; Sweden; doubly labeled water method; energy expenditure; physical activity questionnaire; validation; Physical exercise; Human; Questionnaire; Methodology; Nutrition; Nutrition disorder; Label; Metabolic diseases; Method; Test validation; Energetic cost; Nutritional status; Public health
• ISSN: 0307-0565; 1476-5497; 1476-5497
• DOI: 10.1038/ijo.2008.42

Objective: To validate a two-question questionnaire on physical activity with the doubly labeled water (DLW) method. Design: Cross-sectional study. Subjects: Nine volunteers, age 33-75 years, with a mean body mass index (BMI) (kg m- 2) of 27.4. Measurements: A questionnaire with one question on physical activity at work and one question on physical activity during leisure time. The answers were converted into a PAL (physical activity level=energy expenditure/basal metabolic rate) value, which was validated with the DLW method. Results: The mean values (s.d.) of PAL for the questionnaire and DLW measurements were 1.7 (0.1) and 1.7 (0.1), respectively, with a mean difference of 0.004 (0.172). Conclusions: The results were promising to the extent that they could be used in large-scale epidemiological studies.