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Calibration And Evaluation Of An Objective Measure Of Physical Activity In Preschool Children, John R. Sirard, Stewart G. Trost, Karin A. Pfeiffer, Marsha Dowda, Russell R. Pate

Faculty Publications

Background: The purposes of this study were 1) to establish accelerometer count cutoffs to categorize activity intensity of 3 to 5-y old-children and 2) to evaluate the accelerometer as a measure of children's physical activity in preschool settings. Methods: While wearing an ActiGraph accelerometer, 16 preschool children performed five, 3-min structured activities. Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curve analyses identified count cutoffs for four physical activity intensities. In 9 preschools, 281 children wore an ActiGraph during observations performed by three trained observers (interobserver reliability = 0.91 to 0.98). Results: Separate count cutoffs for 3, 4, and 5-y olds were established. Sensitivity …