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ARS Home » Plains Area » Houston, Texas » Children's Nutrition Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #355391
Title: A youth compendium of physical activities: Activity codes and metabolic intensities

Author
item BUTTE, NANCY - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item WATSON, KATHLEEN - Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (CDC) - United States
item RIDLEY, KATE - Flinders University
item ZAKERI, ISSA - Drexel University
item MCMURRAY, ROBERT - University Of North Carolina
item PFEIFFER, KARIN - Michigan State University
item CROUTER, SCOTT - University Of Tennessee
item HERRMANN, STEPHEN - Sanford Health
item BASSETT, DAVID - University Of Tennessee
item LONG, ALEXANDER - Drexel University
item BERHANE, ZEKARIAS - Drexel University
item TROST, STEWART - Queensland University - Australia
item AINSWORTH, DAVID - Arizona State University
item BERRIGAN, DAVID - National Institutes Of Health (NIH)
item FULTON, JANET - Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (CDC) - United States

Submitted to: Epidemiology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/1/2017
Publication Date: 9/7/2017
Citation: Butte, N.F., Watson, K.B., Ridley, K., Zakeri, I.F., McMurray, R.G., Pfeiffer, K.A., Crouter, S.E., Herrmann, S.D., Bassett, D.R., Long, A., Berhane, Z., Trost, S.G., Ainsworth, D.E., Berrigan, D., Fulton, J.E. 2017. A youth compendium of physical ctivities: Activity codes and metabolic Intensities. Epidemiology. 50(2):246-256. http://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0000000000001430.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1249/MSS.0000000000001430

Interpretive Summary: Knowing the energy cost of the physical activities in which youth participate can help researchers and practitioners understand patterns of physical activity and prescribe and encourage an amount of activity for optimal health. The Adult Compendium on the energy cost of physical activities is not applicable to children. The Youth Compendium was developed consisting of metabolic equivalents (METy) values for 196 specific activities classified into 16 major categories for four age-groups, 6–9, 10–12, 13–15, and 16–18 yr. Energy costs were measured or derived from pediatric data only. Missing METy data were predicted using a specific imputation model for each major activity category. METy values for each activity were provided for the four age-groups to address the age dependency of METy values. The Youth Compendium will be a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners interested in improving the health of children and adolescents through physical activity. The Youth Compendium can be used to standardize the scoring and interpretation of youth physical activity data in research and public health surveillance applications.

Technical Abstract: A Youth Compendium of Physical Activities (Youth Compendium) was developed to estimate the energy costs of physical activities using data on youth only. Methods: On the basis of a literature search and pooled data of energy expenditure measurements in youth, the energy costs of 196 activities were compiled in 16 activity categories to form a Youth Compendium of Physical Activities. To estimate the intensity of each activity, measured oxygen consumption (V' O2) was divided by basal metabolic rate(Schofield age-, sex-, and mass-specific equations) to produce a youth MET (METy). A mixed linear model was developed for each activity category to impute missing values for age ranges with no observations for a specific activity. This Youth Compendium consists of METy values for 196 specific activities classified into 16 major categories for four age-groups, 6–9, 10–12, 13–15, and 16–18 yr. METy values in this Youth Compendium were measured (51%) or imputed (49%) from youth data. This Youth Compendium of Physical Activities uses pediatric data exclusively, addresses the age dependency of METy, and imputes missing METy values and thus represents advancement in physical activity research and practice. This Youth Compendium will be a valuable resource for stakeholders interested in evaluating interventions, programs, and policies designed to assess and encourage physical activity in youth.