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Relationships of self-reported physical activity domains with accelerometry recordings in French adults

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Abstract

The objective was to examine the relationships of self-reported physical activity (PA) by domain (leisure, occupational, other) with PA and sedentary time as measured objectively by accelerometry. Subjects were adults with low habitual PA levels from a community in northern France. Among subjects in the lowest tertile of a PA score from a screening questionnaire, 160 (37% males, age: 41.0 ± 10.8 years, BMI: 25.1 ± 4.1 kg/m2, mean ± SD) completed a detailed instrument (Modifiable Activity Questionnaire), and wore an accelerometer (Actigraph) for seven consecutive days. Relationships between questionnaire domains (occupational, leisure, and “non-occupational non-leisure”) and accelerometry measures (total activity and sedentary time) were assessed using Spearman correlation coefficients. In this population, the highest contributor to total reported PA (h/week) was occupational PA. Time spent in non-occupational non-leisure PA ranked second in women and third in men. The most frequent non-occupational non-leisure PA were shopping and household chores. In women, non-occupational non-leisure PA contributed more than occupational or leisure-time PA to total PA energy expenditure (median: 18.0, 9.1, and 4.9 MET-h/week, respectively). Total PA by accelerometry (count/day) was correlated to leisure-time PA in women (r = 0.22, P < 0.05) and to occupational (r = 0.43, P < 0.01) and total reported PA (r = 0.39, P < 0.01) in men (all in MET-h/week). There was an inverse relationship between accelerometry sedentary time (h/day) and non-occupational non-leisure PA (MET-h/week, r = −0.30, P < 0.001). These findings indicate the importance of assessing non-occupational non-leisure PA for a better understanding of how individuals partition their time between active or sedentary occupations.

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Abbreviations

FLVS:

Fleurbaix-Laventie Ville-Santé

IPAQ:

International physical activity questionnaire

MAQ:

Modifiable activity questionnaire

PA:

Physical activity

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully thank Leila Mhamdi, PhD, for her assistance in data analysis. We thank Cedus, Go Sport, Fournier Pharma, Roche, Lesieur, and Nestlé France for their support to the Fleurbaix-Laventie Ville-Santé study. This project was supported by a research-action grant from the French Ministry of Health—National Nutrition and Health Program (PNNS-2002).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nutrition, Pitié-Salpétrière Hospital (AP-HP); Human Nutrition Research Center Ile-de-France (CRNH-IdF), University Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris 6, 83 boulevard de l’Hôpital, 75013, Paris, France

    David Jacobi & Jean-Michel Oppert

  2. Department of Internal Medicine and Nutrition, CHRU de Tours, 37044, Tours, France

    David Jacobi

  3. INSERM Unit 780, 94807 Villejuif cedex; IFR 69, Villejuif, University Paris–Sud XI, Orsay, France

    Marie-Aline Charles & Muriel Tafflet

  4. Fleurbaix-Laventie Association, 62840, Laventie, France

    Agnès Lommez & Jean-Michel Borys

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  1. David Jacobi
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  2. Marie-Aline Charles
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  3. Muriel Tafflet
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  4. Agnès Lommez
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  6. Jean-Michel Oppert
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Correspondence to Jean-Michel Oppert.

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Jacobi, D., Charles, MA., Tafflet, M. et al. Relationships of self-reported physical activity domains with accelerometry recordings in French adults. Eur J Epidemiol 24, 171–179 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-009-9329-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10654-009-9329-8

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