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Cited by 32Physical Activity and HealthCardiovascular and exercise physiologyContext-Aware Activity Recognition Systems

New relative intensity ambulatory accelerometer thresholds for elderly men and women: the Generation 100 study

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Zisko, Nina, Carlsen, Trude, Salvesen, Øyvind, Aspvik, Nils Petter, Ingebrigtsen, Jan Erik, Wisløff, Ulrik, Stensvold, Dorthe·2015·BMC Geriatrics
DOI 10.1186/s12877-015-0093-1PMC PMC4524358
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Abstract

BACKGROUND: Public health initiatives world-wide recommend increasing physical activity (PA) to improve health. However, the dose and the intensity of PA producing the most benefit are still debated. Accurate assessment of PA is necessary in order to 1) investigate the dose-response relationship between PA and health, 2) shape the most beneficial public health initiatives and 3) test the effectiveness of such initiatives. Actigraph accelerometer is widely used to objectively assess PA, and the raw data is given in counts per unit time. Count-thresholds for low, moderate and vigorous PA are mostly based on absolute intensity. This leads to largely inadequate PA intensity assessment in a large proportion of the elderly, who due to their declining maximal oxygen uptake (VO2max) cannot reach the moderate/vigorous intensity as defined in absolute terms. To resolve this issue, here we report relative Actigraph intensity-thresholds for the elderly. METHODS: Submaximal-oxygen-uptake, VO2max and maximal heart rate (HRmax) were measured in 111 70-77 year olds, while wearing an Actigraph-GT3X+. Relationship between VO2max percentage (%), counts-per-minute (CPM) and gender (for both the vertical-axis (VA) and vector-magnitude (VM)) and VO2max% and HRmax% was established using a mixed-regression-model. VM-and VA-models were tested against each other to see which model predicts intensity of PA better. RESULTS: VO2max and gender significantly affected number of CPM at different PA intensities (p < 0.05). Therefore, intensity-thresholds were created for both men and women of ranging VO2max values (low, medium, high). VM-model was found to be a better predictor of PA-intensity than VA-model (p < 0.05). Established thresholds for moderate intensity (46-63 % of VO2max) ranged from 669-3367 and 834-4048 CPM and vigorous intensity (64-90 % of VO2max) from 1625-4868 and 2012-5423CPM, for women and men, respectively. Lastly, we used this evidence to derive a formula that predicts customized relative intensity of PA (either VO2max% or HRmax%) using counts-per-minute values as input. CONCLUSION: Intensity-thresholds depend on VO2max, gender and Actigraph-axis. PA intensity-thresholds that take all these factors into account allow for more accurate relative intensity PA assessment in the elderly and will be useful in future PA research. TRIAL REGISTRATION: (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02017847, registered 17. December 2013).

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  • Accelerometers are not suitable for measuring activities such as cycling and swimming, and the accelerometer thresholds for moderate and vigorous intensity activity levels are problematic in older adults.

    “Furthermore, accelerometers are not suitable for measuring activities such as cycling and swimming, and the accelerometer thresholds for moderate and vigorous intensity activity levels are problematic in older adults.21 22”

    From Effect of exercise training for five years on all cause mortality in older adults—the Generation 100 study: randomised controlled trial (2020) · cites this paper as [22]

    The Background (page unavailable) explains that fixed, absolute-intensity accelerometer thresholds can misclassify moderate and vigorous activity in older adults as fitness declines. The paper does not say that accelerometers are unsuitable for measuring cycling or swimming; its Methods describe treadmill testing, and the Discussion notes that those data may not reflect free-living activities. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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Authors
Zisko, N., Carlsen, T., Salvesen, Ø., Aspvik, N. P., Ingebrigtsen, J. E., Wisløff, U., & Stensvold, D.
Affiliations
Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NO)
Corresponding author
Stensvold, Dorthe
ORCID
Venue
BMC Geriatrics
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2015-08-04
Volume
15
Issue
1
Pages
97-97
ISSN
1471-2318 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1186/s12877-015-0093-1
PMC
PMC4524358
OpenAlex
W1963321401
Cited by
32
References
31
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 4 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 3
FWCI
3.19
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • BMC Geriatrics (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • BIBSYS Brage (BIBSYS (Norway)) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
  • NORA - Norwegian Open Research Archives (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Funders
Helse Midt-Norge
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Complementary and alternative medicine › Cardiovascular and exercise physiology
  • Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition › Context-Aware Activity Recognition Systems
Keywords
physical activity intensity, ActiGraph, older adults, relative intensity, VO2max, maximal heart rate, vector magnitude, vertical axis, gender differences, physical activity measurement, dose-response relationship, public health recommendations, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity
MeSH terms
Aged, Aging, Female, Humans, Kinetocardiography, Male, Anaerobic Threshold, Geriatric Assessment, Exercise Tolerance, Accelerometry, Physical Conditioning, Human

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