Validity of physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness in the Danish cohort 'Diet, Cancer and Health - Next Generations'

Lene Lerche, Anja Olsen, Kristina Elin Nielsen Petersen, Agnetha Linn Rostgaard-Hansen, Lars Ove Dragsted, Nikolai Baastrup Nordsborg, Anne Tjønneland, Jytte Halkjær

4 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Valid assessments of physical activity (PA) and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) are essential in epidemiological studies to define dose-response relationship for formulating thorough recommendations of an appropriate pattern of PA to maintain good health. The aim of this study was to validate the Danish step test, the physical activity questionnaire Active-Q, and self-rated fitness against directly measured maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max). A population-based subsample (n=125) was included from the “Diet, Cancer and Health-Next Generations” (DCH-NG) cohort which is under establishment. Validity coefficients, which express the correlation between measured and “true” exposure, were calculated, and misclassification across categories was evaluated. The validity of the Danish step test was moderate (women: r=.66, and men: r=.56); however, men were systematically underestimated (43% misclassification). When validating the questionnaire-derived measures of PA, leisure-time physical activity was not correlated with VO2max. Positive correlations were found for sports overall, but these were only significant for men: total hours per week of sports (r=.26), MET-hours per week of sports (r=.28) and vigorous sports (0.28) alone were positively correlated with VO2max. Finally, the percentage of misclassification was low for self-rated fitness (women: 9% and men: 13%). Thus, self-rated fitness was found to be a superior method to the Danish step test, as well as being less cost prohibitive and more practical than the VO2max method. Finally, even if correlations were low, they support the potential for questionnaire outcomes, particularly sports, vigorous sports, and self-rated fitness to be used to estimate CRF.

Original languageEnglish
JournalScandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports
Volume27
Issue number12
Pages (from-to)1864-1872
Number of pages9
ISSN0905-7188
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2017

Keywords

  • Validation
  • Fitness test
  • Self-reported physical activity
  • Maximal oxygen uptake
  • cardiorespiratory fitness
  • Epidemiology

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Validity of physical activity and cardiorespiratory fitness in the Danish cohort 'Diet, Cancer and Health - Next Generations''. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this