Subjective and objective assessments of physical activity in professional active women aged 50 to 64 years

Abstract

Background: The aim of the study was to present data on subjective and objective assessments of physical activity in employed women and differences in their activity levels depending on age, education level, place of residence, financial status, and BMI. Another aim was to evaluate correlations of physical activity assessed subjectively and objectively with the aforementioned variables. Methods: Ninety employed women aged 50 to 64 years were divided into 3 groups. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-S) was used for the subjective assessment, and the ActiGraph GT3X activity monitor was used for objective assessment. Results: The subjective assessment of total physical activity levels in the women was significantly higher than their objective assessment. The statistically significantly highest physical activity levels assessed by means of the questionnaire were found for women with the poorest financial status, or primary or secondary education levels and, for the assessments using accelerometers, the women with a BMI indicating overweight. A weak positive correlation (R = 0.25) was found between the total physical activity levels assessed subjectively and objectively. Conclusions: It seems that the use of only one tool for evaluation of physical activity level is not very conclusive. The use of both subjective and objective tools is needed to obtain reliable information about physical activity level.

Keywords

• physical activity
• women aged 50 to 64 years
• IPAQ-S
• accelerometer