Comparison of Six Accelerometer Metrics for Assessing the Temporal Patterns of Children’s Free-Play Physical Activity

Accelerometers are frequently used to measure physical activity in children, but lack of uniformity in data processing methods, such as the metric used to summarize accelerometer data, limits comparability between studies. The objective was to compare six accelerometer metrics (raw: mean amplitude deviation, Euclidean norm minus one, activity index, monitor-independent movement summary units; count: vertical axis, vector magnitude) for characterizing the intensity and temporal patterns of first and second graders’ (n = 88; age = 7.8 ± 0.7 years) recess physical activity. At a 5-s epoch level, Pearson’s correlations (r) between metrics ranged from .66 to .98. When each epoch was classified into one of four intensity levels based on quartiles, agreement between metrics as indicated by weighted kappa ranged from .81 to .96. When collapsed to time spent in each intensity level, metrics were strongly correlated (r = .76–.99) and most often statistically equivalent for estimating time spent in Quartile 3 or 4. Children were ranked from least to most active, and agreement between metrics was strong (Spearman’s correlation ≥ .87). Temporal patterns were characterized using five fragmentation indices calculated using each of the six metrics, which were fair-to-strongly correlated (r = .53–.99), with the strongest associations for number of high-intensity activity bouts (r ≥ .89). Most fragmentation indices were not statistically equivalent between metrics. While metrics captured similar trends in activity intensity and temporal patterns, caution is warranted when making comparisons of point estimates derived from different metrics. However, all metrics were able to similarly capture higher intensity activity (i.e., Quartile 3 or 4), the most common outcome of interest in intervention studies.