Is self-reported time spent sedentary and in physical activity differentially biased by age, gender, body mass index and low-back pain?
2018 (English)In: Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment and Health, ISSN 0355-3140, E-ISSN 1795-990X, Vol. 44, no 2, p. 163-170Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Objectives We aimed at determining the extent to which age, gender, BMI and low back pain (LBP) influence bias in self-reported sedentary behavior and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) among blue-collar workers.
Methods 147 workers wore an Actigraph accelerometer on the thigh for 2-4 consecutive working days. Proportional time spent sedentary and in MVPA was determined using the Acti4 software. The same variables were also self-reported in a questionnaire. The difference between self-reported and accelerometer-based sedentary time and MVPA was calculated and linearly regressed against age, gender, BMI, and self-reported LBP intensity as main effects, as well as interaction terms combining each of these factors with objectively measured exposure.
Results Workers objectively spent 64% of their time sedentary and 9% in MVPA. On average, self-reports underestimated sedentary time by 1.5 time percentage points and overestimated MVPA by 5.5%. Workers with mild/no LBP appeared to have the same size of self-report bias in MVPA regardless of how much MVPA they actually had, while workers with high LBP overestimated MVPA to an increasing extent with increasing exposure (interaction: B 0.29, 95%CI 0.05 to 0.53). Age was positively associated with self-report bias in sedentary time (B=0.31, 95%CI=0.09 - 0.54, P=0.008) regardless of actual sedentary time.
Conclusions LBP and age, but not BMI and gender, introduced differential bias in self-reported information on sedentary behavior and MVPA among blue-collar workers. This result suggests that bias correction in future studies based on self-reports of sedentary time and MVPA should account for LBP and age.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2018. Vol. 44, no 2, p. 163-170
Keywords [en]
Measurement error, exposure modelling, questionnaire, musculoskeletal pain
National Category
Occupational Health and Environmental Health
Research subject
Health-Promoting Work
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hig:diva-24600DOI: 10.5271/sjweh.3693ISI: 000427107100006PubMedID: 29184965Scopus ID: 2-s2.0-85042866971OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hig-24600DiVA, id: diva2:1117418
Part of project
Forte-centre Working Life: The Body at Work - from problem to potential, Forte
Funder
Forte, Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare, 2009-01761
Note
Funding agency: Danish Work Environment Research Fund Grant no: 20130069161/9
2017-06-282017-06-282020-11-23Bibliographically approved