Objective versus subjective physical activity assessment in a clinical setting of patients with obesity and eating disorders

OBJECTIVE: Accurate assessment of physical activity supports a comprehensive understanding and treatment of obesity and eating disorders. Here, we assessed the concurrent validity of a questionnaire and accelerometry-based measurements in a clinical setting. METHODS: ). Concurrent validity (SWA as criterion) and proportional bias were assessed using regression analyses. RESULTS: ) compared to the SWA. Within-patient correlation for physical activity was good (r = 0.88, p < 0.001) but impractical for sitting time (r = 0.41, p = 0.005). Greater inactivity led to greater reporting errors in sitting time (p = 0.005). Males underestimated sitting time more than females (p = 0.026). Converting objective to subjective measures resulted in typical errors of 238 MET min (total physical activity) and 88 min (sitting time). CONCLUSION: Objective accelerometer-based multisensory device monitoring should be incorporated into clinical settings to treat patients with obesity and eating disorders.