With continued widespread acceptance of pedometers by both researchers and practitioners, evidence-based steps/day indices are needed to facilitate measurement and motivation applications of physical activity (PA) in public health. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to reprise, update, and extend the current understanding of dose-response relationships in terms of pedometer-determined PA. Any pedometer-based PA guideline presumes an accurate and standardized measure of steps; at this time, industry standards establishing quality control of instrumentation is limited to Japan where public health pedometer applications and the 10,000 steps.d slogan are traceable to the 1960s. Adult public health guidelines promote > or =30 min of at least moderate-intensity daily PA, and this translates to 3000-4000 steps if they are: 1) at least moderate intensity (i.e., > or =100 steps.min); 2) accumulated in at least 10-min bouts; and 3) taken over and above some minimal level of PA (i.e., number of daily steps) below which individuals might be classified as sedentary. A zone-based hierarchy is useful for both measurement and motivation purposes in adults: 1) <5000 steps.d (sedentary); 2) 5000-7499 steps.d (low active); 3) 7500-9999 steps.d (somewhat active); 4) > or =10,000-12,499 steps.d (active); and 5) > or =12,500 steps.d (highly active). Evidence to support youth-specific cutoff points is emerging. Criterion-referenced approaches based on selected health outcomes present the potential for advancing evidence-based steps/day standards in both adults and children from a measurement perspective. A tradeoff that needs to be acknowledged and considered is the impact on motivation when evidence-based cutoff points are interpreted by individuals as unattainable goals.

Athletic training researchers and scholarly clinicians can use the information presented in this article to better conduct and interpret the results of clinical trials. Implementing these techniques will increase the power and validity of findings of athletic medicine clinical trials, which will ultimately improve the quality of care provided.

BackgroundCadence (steps/min) may be a reasonable proxy-indicator of ambulatory intensity. A summary of current evidence is needed for cadence-based metrics supporting benchmark (standard or point of reference) and threshold (minimums associated with desired outcomes) values that are informed by a systematic process.ObjectiveTo review how fast, in terms of cadence, is enough, with reference to crafting public health recommendations in adults.MethodsA comprehensive search strategy was conducted to identify relevant studies focused on walking cadence and intensity for adults. Identified studies (n=38) included controlled (n=11), free-living observational (n=18) and intervention (n=9) designs.ResultsThere was a strong relationship between cadence (as measured by direct observation and objective assessments) and intensity (indirect calorimetry). Despite acknowledged interindividual variability, ≥100 steps/min is a consistent heuristic (e.g, evidence-based, rounded) value associated with absolutely defined moderate intensity (3 metabolic equivalents (METs)). Epidemiological studies report notably low mean daily cadences (ie, 7.7 steps/min), shaped primarily by the very large proportion of time (13.5 hours/day) spent between zero and purposeful cadences (<60 steps/min) at the population level. Published values for peak 1-min and 30-min cadences in healthy free-living adults are >100 and >70 steps/min, respectively. Peak cadence indicators are negatively associated with increased age and body mass index. Identified intervention studies used cadence to either prescribe and/or quantify ambulatory intensity but the evidence is best described as preliminary.ConclusionsA cadence value of ≥100 steps/min in adults appears to be a consistent and reasonable heuristic answer to ’How fast is fast enough?' during sustained and rhythmic ambulatory behaviour.Trial registration numberNCT02650258

Objective: The purpose of the present study was to use a meta-analytic approach to examine the convergent validity of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). Design: Systematic review by meta-analysis. Setting: The relevant studies were surveyed from five electronic databases. Primary outcomes of interest were the product-moment correlation coefficients between IPAQ and other instruments. Five separate meta-analyses were performed for each physical activity (PA) category of IPAQ: walking, moderate PA (MPA), total moderate PA (TMPA), vigorous PA (VPA) and total PA (TPA). The corrected mean effect size (ESr) unaffected by statistical artefacts (i.e. sampling error and reliability) was calculated for each PA category. Selected moderator variables were length of IPAQ (i.e. short and long form), reference period (i.e. last 7 d and usual week), mode of administration (i.e. interviewer and self-reported), language (i.e. English and translated) and instruments (i.e. accelerometer, pedometer and subjective measure). Subjects: A total of 152 ESr across five PA categories were retrieved from twentyone studies. Results:The results showed small-to medium-sized ESr (0?27-0?49). The highest value was observed in VPA while the lowest value was found in MPA. The ESr were differentiated by some of the moderator variables across PA categories. Conclusions: The study shows the overall convergent validity of IPAQ within each PA category. Some differences in degree of convergent validity across PA categories and moderator variables imply that different research conditions should be taken into account prior to deciding on use of the appropriate type of IPAQ. Keywords IPAQ Convergent validityMeta-analysis Physical activity Physical activity (PA) has been regarded as one of the most important habitual behaviours which leads to a healthy life by preventing diseases and increasing health benefits (1)(2)(3)(4)(5) . As the importance of PA has been emphasized, attempts have been made to develop appropriate measurement tools, including objective and subjective measurement tools, to quantify the amount of PA in daily life. Of these, questionnaires remain the most widely used measurement tool in large-scale studies due to their efficiency of measuring PA levels in large populations (6) .The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) is an instrument which was developed by the International Consensus Group in 1998-1999 to establish a standardized and culturally adaptable measurement tool across various populations in the world (7) . IPAQ is designed to assess the levels of habitual PA for individuals ranging from young to middle-aged adults (i.e. 15-69 years old). In addition, there are different forms of IPAQ depending on several variations which include length of questionnaire (i.e. short or long form), reference period (i.e. last 7 d or usual week) and mode of administration (i.e. self-report or interviewer-based).Soon after IPAQ was developed it was translated into several different languages and numerous...

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