The backwards comparability of wrist worn GENEActiv and waist worn ActiGraph accelerometer estimates of sedentary time in children

Objectives: To examine the backward comparability of a range of wrist-worn accelerometer estimates of sedentary time (ST) with ActiGraph 100 count min −1 waist ST estimates. Design: Cross-sectional, secondary data analysis Methods: One hundred and eight 10–11-year-old children (65 girls) wore an ActiGraph GT3X+ accelerometer (AG) on their waist and a GENEActiv accelerometer (GA) on their non-dominant wrist for seven days. GA ST data were classified using a range of thresholds from 23 to 56 mg ST estimates were compared to AG ST 100 count min −1 data. Agreement between the AG and GA thresholds was examined using Cronbach's alpha, intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), limits of agreement (LOA), Kappa values, percent agreement, mean absolute percent error (MAPE) and equivalency analysis. Results: Mean AG total ST was 492.4 min over the measurement period. Kappa values ranged from 0.31 to 0.39. Percent agreement ranged from 68 to 69.9%. Cronbach's alpha values ranged from 0.88 to 0.93. ICCs ranged from 0.59 to 0.86. LOA were wide for all comparisons. Only the 34 mg threshold produced estimates that were equivalent at the group level to the AG ST 100 count min −1 data though sensitivity and specificity values of ∼64% and ∼74% respectively were observed. Conclusions: Wrist-based estimates of ST generated using the 34 mg threshold are comparable with those derived from the AG waist mounted 100 count min −1 threshold at the group level. The 34 mg threshold could be applied to allow group-level comparisons of ST with evidence generated using the ActiGraph 100 count min −1 method though it is important to consider the observed sensitivity and specificity results when interpreting findings.