Development, reliability and validity of a physical activity questionnaire for estimating energy expenditure in Greek adults

    S.A. Kavouras, M.I. Marakib, M. Kollia, A. Gioxarib, L.T. Jansena, L.S. Sidossisa

a Department of health, human performance and recreation, university of Arkansas, AR 72701 Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA
b Laboratory of nutrition and clinical dietetics, department of nutrition and dietetics, Harokopio university, Athens, Greece
c Department of exercise science and sports studies, department of medicine, Robert Wood Johnson medical school, Rutgers university, New Jersey, USA

Science & Sports Journal

Objectives
The purpose of this study was to develop and assess the reliability and validity of a single page, physical activity questionnaire, for estimation of energy expenditure in Greek adults.

Equipment and methods
The Athens Physical Activity Questionnaire (APAQ) was designed to assess energy expenditure of the previous 7 days, in Greek language. Sixty subjects (40 women, age: 20.9 ± ۱٫۷ years, BMI: 21.4 ± ۲٫۷ kg/m2; 20 men, age: 22.4 ± ۳٫۱ years, BMI: 23.5 ± ۳٫۱ kg/m2) completed the APAQ on two separate occasions, 7 to 14 days apart, to assess internal consistency and test-retest reliability, using Cronbach alpha and intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), respectively. Additionally, 79 more subjects (42 women, age: 26.6 ± ۶٫۱ years, BMI: 20.6 ± ۱٫۸ kg/m2; 37 men, age: 30.0 ± ۶٫۱ years, BMI: 25.1 ± ۲٫۲ kg/m2) wore a triaxial accelerometer for 7 consecutive days, and then completed the APAQ to assess validity, using correlation and Bland-Altman analysis.

Results
ICC were 0.95, 0.78, 0.58 and 0.85 (P < 0.001) for total, occupational, home and recreational EE, respectively. Total energy expenditure derived from APAQ was significantly correlated (r = 0.839, P < 0.001) to accelerometer measures. Bland-Altman analysis showed a good agreement between the two methods with most of the differences within the 95% limits of agreement. It was concluded that APAQ is a reliable and valid tool for estimation of individual energy expenditure in Greek adults, suitable for clinical and epidemiological studies.

Keywords
Exercise; Accelerometer; Energy cost; Self-report questionnairea

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