Historical development of accelerometry measures and methods for physical activity and sedentary behavior research worldwide: A scoping review of observational studies of adults

Abstract

This scoping review identified observational studies of adults that utilized accelerometry to assess physical activity and sedentary behavior. Key elements on accelerometry data collection were abstracted to describe current practices and completeness of reporting. We searched three databases (PubMed, Web of Science, and SPORTDiscus) on June 1, 2021 for articles published up to that date. We included studies of non-institutionalized adults with an analytic sample size of at least 500. The search returned 5686 unique records. After reviewing 1027 full-text publications, we identified and abstracted accelerometry characteristics on 155 unique observational studies (154 cross-sectional/cohort studies and 1 case control study). The countries with the highest number of studies included the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan. Fewer studies were identified from the continent of Africa. Five of these studies were distributed donor studies, where participants connected their devices to an application and voluntarily shared data with researchers. Data collection occurred between 1999 to 2019. Most studies used one accelerometer (94.2%), but 8 studies (5.2%) used 2 accelerometers and 1 study (0.6%) used 4 accelerometers. Accelerometers were more commonly worn on the hip (48.4%) as compared to the wrist (22.3%), thigh (5.4%), other locations (14.9%), or not reported (9.0%). Overall, 12.7% of the accelerometers collected raw accelerations and 44.6% were worn for 24 hours/day throughout the collection period. The review identified 155 observational studies of adults that collected accelerometry, utilizing a wide range of accelerometer data processing methods. Researchers inconsistently reported key aspects of the process from collection to analysis, which needs addressing to support accurate comparisons across studies.

Fig 1. PRISMA chart displaying the identification, screening, eligibility and inclusion for each study reviewed.

In total, 155 studies were included from 154 publications. One publication included two studies (Dutch Longitudinal Internet Studies for Social Sciences and Understanding America Study) that were not mentioned in other identified publications.

Fig 2. World map displaying the frequency of accelerometry studies found by country (n = 150).

This map does not include the 5 distributed donor studies. England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland were mapped as the United Kingdom. Republished from [26] under a CC BY license, with permission from Dr. Andy South, original copyright 2011.

Fig 3. Number of studies collecting data by year (n = 155).

Note that if a study collects accelerometry over multiple years, then it is included on the graph in each of those years.

Fig 4. Wear protocol by first year of data collection, graphed at the accelerometer level (n = 166).

Fig 5. Accelerometer wear location by first year of data collection, graphed at the accelerometer level (n = 166).