Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Practice Guideline
. 2025 Jul 9;34(177):240279.
doi: 10.1183/16000617.0279-2024. Print 2025 Jul.

The 2025 European Cystic Fibrosis Society position statement on physical activity assessment in cystic fibrosis

Craig A Williams  1 , Brenda Button  2 , Tiffany J Dwyer  3   4 , Elpis Hatziagorou  5 , Kelly A Mackintosh  6 , Melitta A McNarry  6 , Dewi Paris  7 , James Shelley  8 , Helge Hebestreit  9 , Judy Bradley  10 , Mayara Silveira Bianchim  11 ; Exercise Working Group European CF Society
Affiliations
Practice Guideline

The 2025 European Cystic Fibrosis Society position statement on physical activity assessment in cystic fibrosis

Craig A Williams et al. Eur Respir Rev. .

Abstract

Background: Recent advances in the measurement of physical activity have significantly enhanced the analyses and interpretation in relation to health and well-being. Thus, we sought to revise and expand the 2015 position statement on the measurement of physical activity and provide guidance to clinicians and researchers for measuring physical activity in cystic fibrosis (CF) clinical practice and research.

Methods: This study was registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Review (PROSPERO) database (CRD42022292165). Three databases (Medline, Embase and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature) were searched for studies investigating the measurement of physical activity and sedentary time in people with CF irrespective of age or duration. The Quality Assessment for Diverse Studies was used to assess methodological concern. A mixed-methods framework synthesis was used to extract, map, chart, categorise and aggregate study findings.

Results: In total, 7439 potentially relevant publications were identified. Following screening of titles and abstracts, 422 full texts were retrieved and assessed for eligibility, with 90 studies included. There was considerable variation in the methods of assessment, data processing and analytical interpretation of data.

Conclusion: It is recommended that device-based physical activity metrics are presented as time spent in different intensity categories (e.g., light, moderate and vigorous) and to include sedentary and sleep time. For data analysis, the data resolution should be at least 1 s (minimum 30 Hz) to enable clinical teams to obtain representative categorisation of patients' physical activity patterns. Validated questionnaires (e.g., the Habitual Activity Estimation Scale) offer additional opportunities to assess physical activity, whilst diaries can add context but should be viewed as secondary outcome measurements.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest: All authors are members of the ECFS Exercise Working Group, a voluntary group that advise the society on exercise related matters for ECFS – this is all a nonpaid role. All authors have nothing further to disclose.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Flowchart of the study.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Bradley J, O'Neill B, Kent L, et al. Physical activity assessment in cystic fibrosis: a position statement. J Cyst Fibros 2015; 14: e25–e32. doi: 10.1016/j.jcf.2015.05.011 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hay JA, Brock University , Cairney J. Development of the habitual activity estimation scale for clinical research: a systematic approach. Pediatr Exerc Sci 2006; 18: 193–202. doi: 10.1123/pes.18.2.193 - DOI
    1. Tokuçoğlu F. Monitoring physical activity with wearable technologies. Noro Psikiyatr Ars 2018; 55: Suppl. 1, S63–S65. doi: 10.29399/npa.23333 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Rowlands AV. Moving forward with accelerometer-assessed physical activity: two strategies to ensure meaningful, interpretable, and comparable measures. Pediatr Exerc Sci 2018; 30: 450–456. doi: 10.1123/pes.2018-0201 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Tremblay MS, Carson V, Chaput JP, et al. Canadian 24-hour movement guidelines for children and youth: an integration of physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab 2016; 41: Suppl. 3, S311–S327. doi: 10.1139/apnm-2016-0151 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types