Physical Activity Device Reliability and Validity during Pregnancy and Postpartum.

Current physical activity (PA) recommendations for women experiencing a normal pregnancy reflect recent research showing numerous health benefits for mother and offspring. However, few studies have evaluated PA devices' reliability and validity during pregnancy, as anatomical and physiological changes throughout gestation could affect an instrument's accuracy. PURPOSE: To determine the reliability and validity of PA devices worn on the hip, ankle, and triceps during pregnancy and post-partum. METHODS: Thirty-three women performed six activities of daily living and one treadmill walk at approximately 21 and 32 weeks of pregnancy, and 12 weeks post-partum. There were two visits at each time-period, one week apart. Energy expenditure (VO2) was measured by indirect calorimetry (IC; criterion measure), while PA was quantified by accelerometers and pedometers placed at the right hip and ankle and left triceps. Interclass reliability and monitor validity compared to IC in relative (ml[middle dot]kg-1[middle dot]min-1) terms was calculated via Pearson correlation (PC). Both multi and single-trial intraclass reliabilities (ICC) were estimated from analysis of variance (ANOVA) to assess monitor reliability at each time-period. Standard errors of measurement (SEM) were calculated in relative terms for each time-period. RESULTS: The reliability of the devices was moderate/strong as 66% of the PCs were between 0.6-1.0. Multi-trial ICCs were largely in the moderate/strong range as 38% of the ICCs were between 0.6-0.79 and 50% were between 0.8-1.0. The SEMs for each device between visits ranged from 7-23% of the mean values. Comparison between IC and devices showed 40 and 46% of the validity coefficients were between 0.4-0.59 and 0.6-0.79, respectively. CONCLUSION: PA devices show moderate/strong reliability and moderate validity for measuring PA during pregnancy and post-partum. (C) 2017 American College of Sports Medicine

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