RELIABILITY OF INTERNATIONAL PHYSICAL ACTIVITY QUESTIONNAIRE – SHORT FORM IPAQ-SF FOR YOUNG ADULTS IN INDIA

Abstract

Introduction: Amongst the various challenges India is facing as a developing country, one such grave challenge is the public health and nutritional transition. Non communicable disorders with serious health problems are taking its grip all over the world in terms of mortality, morbidity, disability and socio-economic losses. Physical activity has proved to either eliminate the risk or deter the chances of developing such grave conditions in the elite individuals who represent the future society. Thus, a consensus on valid and reliable tool for measuring physical activity internationally on the same platform is required. Methodology: 250 young adults who consented for the study, were of the Age between 18-25 years and those who could understand English language were distributed the questionnaires in Delhi with a 80% response rate. In addition to the normal IPAQ-SF questions, demographic data on Height weight was also collected. The IPAQ-SF was made to be filled on the basis of 7 days recall of physical activity and a repeat questionnaire was made to be filled by the same subjects after 7 days. Result & Discussion: Among the 200 young adults (males and females) in this study, the highest average MET expenditure is of 18 years old subjects. In the age range 18-21 most of the people are having score 3 in all age groups which shows that they are physically active in their lifestyle. Also, the Age wise average sitting time distribution shows the highest average sitting time is of 18 years old subjects. The test-retest reliability of MET mint/week before and after 7 days was evaluated using interclass correlation coefficient. ICC value is 0.638 hence the test is significant at -0.19 - 0.921 confidence intervals. Thus, the test is reliable. The Bland Altman plots showed limits of agreement between the PRE and 7 DAYS POST MET mint/week, range from -552.3777 to 696.6326 METS. 95% values of the 7 DAYS POST MET were within the upper and lower limits of agreement. The test-retest reliability of MET score, before and after 7 days is evaluated using interclass correlation coefficient. ICC value is 0.725 hence the test is significant at -0.19 - 0.923 confidence intervals. The test-retest reliability of sitting time before and after 7 days is evaluated using interclass correlation coefficient. ICC value is 0.5199 hence the test is significant at -0.199 - 0.7596 confidence intervals. Conclusions: The IPAQ-SF proved to be a reliable tool to measure physical activity level and may be used as a tool in health promotion programs.

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