Measuring Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior in Youth with Type 2 Diabetes

Lifestyle interventions that encourage increasing physical activity (PA) and losing weight are critical for overweight and obese youth with comorbid conditions. Assessing PA within such lifestyle intervention efforts requires measurement tool(s) that are both accurate and appropriate for these youth. This research compares PA levels and sedentary behavior in an ethnically diverse cohort of overweight/obese youth with type 2 diabetes using both accelerometry and a questionnaire previously validated in the general youth population. Spearman's correlations were used to compare time spent sedentary and in different PA intensities between a questionnaire, the three-day PA recall (3DPAR), and an objective PA measure, the ActiGraph accelerometer, in 236 overweight/obese youth with diabetes. Spearman correlations between 3DPAR and accelerometer results for total PA were small and not significant (rho = 0.11, p > 0.05 for males and females). Correlations for specific PA intensities (moderate/vigorous and light) were also small and not significant. Sedentary time between instruments was significant, but weakly correlated in females (rho = 0.19, p