Evaluation of Actiheart and a 7 d activity diary for estimating free-living total and activity energy expenditure using criterion methods in 1.5- and 3-year-old children.

摘要

Accurate and easy-to-use methods to assess free-living energy expenditure in response to physical activity in young children are scarce. In the present study, we evaluated the capacity of (1) 4 d recordings obtained using the Actiheart (mean heart rate (mHR) and mean activity counts (mAC)) to provide assessments of total energy expenditure (TEE) and activity energy expenditure (AEE) and (2) a 7 d activity diary to provide assessments of physical activity levels (PAL) using three sets of metabolic equivalent (MET) values (PAL_Torun, PAL_Adolph and PAL_Ainsworth) in forty-four and thirty-one healthy Swedish children aged 1.5 and 3 years, respectively. Reference TEE, PAL_ref and AEE were measured using criterion methods, i.e. the doubly labelled water method and indirect calorimetry. At 1.5 years of age, mHR explained 8% (P=0.006) of the variation in TEE above that explained by fat mass and fat-free mass. At 3 years of age, mHR and mAC explained 8 (P=0.004) and 6 (P=0.03)% of the variation in TEE and AEE, respectively, above that explained by fat mass and fat-free mass. At 1.5 and 3 years of age, average PAL_Ainsworth values were 1.44 and 1.59, respectively, and not significantly different from PAL_ref values (1.39 and 1.61, respectively). By contrast, average PAL_Torun (1.5 and 3 years) and PAL_Adolph (3 years) values were lower (P<0.05) than the corresponding PAL_ref values. In conclusion, at both ages, Actiheart recordings explained a small but significant fraction of free-living energy expenditure above that explained by body composition variables, and our activity diary produced mean PAL values in agreement with reference values when using MET values published by Ainsworth.