What they say and what they do: comparing physical activity across the USA, England and the Netherlands. Issue 6 (11th April 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kapteyn, Arie; Banks, James; Hamer, Mark; Smith, James P; Steptoe, Andrew; van Soest, Arthur; Koster, Annemarie; Htay Wah, Saw
• Is Part Of: Journal of epidemiology and community health. Volume 72:Issue 6(2018)
• Page Start: 471
• Page End: 476
• Publication Date: 2018-04-11
• Subjects: physical activity -- accelerometer -- self-report; Public health -- Periodicals; Epidemiology -- Periodicals; 614.4
• DOI: 10.1136/jech-2017-209703
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0143-005X

Abstract

Abstract : Background: Physical activity (PA) is important for maintaining health, but there are fundamental unanswered questions on how best it should be measured. Methods: We measured PA in the Netherlands (n=748), the USA (n=540) and England (n=254), both by a 7 day wrist-worn accelerometer and by self-reports. The self-reports included a global self-report on PA and a report on the frequency of vigorous, moderate and mild activity. Results: The self-reported data showed only minor differences across countries and across groups within countries (such as different age groups or working vs non-working respondents). The accelerometer data, however, showed large differences; the Dutch and English appeared to be much more physically active than Americans h (For instance, among respondents aged 50 years or older 38% of Americans are in the lowest activity quintile of the Dutch distribution). In addition, accelerometer data showed a sharp decline of PA with age, while no such pattern was observed in self-reports. The differences between objective measures and self-reports occurred for both types of self-reports. Conclusion: It is clear that self-reports and objective measures tell vastly different stories, suggesting that across countries people use different response scales when answering questions about how physically active they are.