Review of Validity and Reliability of Garmin Activity Trackers

Evenson, Kelly R.; Spade, Camden

doi:10.1123/jmpb.2019-0035

Cited by 63 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 60 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Several systematic reviews on consumer-based activity tracker validity have been published the last few years with similar conclusions [27, 32, 34-39]. Fuller et al [32] published a large systematic review in 2020 assessing the validity of steps, energy expenditure, and heart rate estimates for devices from Apple, Fitbit, Garmin, Mio, Misfit, Polar, Samsung, Withings, and Xiaomi.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…From 148 included validation studies they concluded that, although there is variation, consumer-based activity trackers can accurately measure steps and heart rate in lab-settings. The most recent systematic review on Garmin activity trackers by Evenson et al [39] concluded high validity of steps, but low validity for energy expenditure and heart rate. A systematic review and meta-analysis on energy expenditure by O’Driscoll et al [38] further showed that accuracy is dependent on activity type performed, and that trackers with heart rate monitoring gives lower measurement error.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although several systematic reviews were released this year [27, 32, 38, 39], all included validation studies were done on activity trackers that are now discontinued. This highlights the need for continuous validation studies on new devices, as suggested by Fuller et al [32].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Polar Vantage and Oura physical activity and sleep trackers: A validation and comparison study

Henriksen

Svartdal

Grimsgaard

et al. 2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objectives: Consumer-based accelerometers (activity trackers) are increasingly used in research. The aim of this study was to test the validity of the Polar Vantage watch and Oura ring activity trackers for measuring physical activity (PA), total energy expenditure (EE), resting heart rate (RHR), and sleep duration, when worn by adults in free-living.Design, setting, and participants: Twenty-one participants wore four activity trackers; Polar, Oura, ActiGraph, and Actiheart, and completed a sleep diary for up to seven days. We assessed criterion validity of Polar and Oura when measuring PA, TEE, RHR (Oura), and sleep duration. We analysed repeated measures correlation, Bland-Altman plots, and mean absolute percentage error (MAPE).Results: Polar and Oura were both strongly correlated (p<0.001) with ActiGraph for steps (Polar r 0.75, 95% CI 0.54-0.92. Oura r 0.77, 95% CI 0.62-0.87), moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) (Polar r 0.76, 95% CI 0.62-0.88. Oura r 0.70, 95% CI 0.49-0.82), and TEE (Polar r 0.69, 95% CI 0.48-0.88. Oura r 0.70, 95% CI 0.51-0.83) and strongly or very strongly correlated (p<0.001) with the sleep diary for sleep duration (Polar r 0.74, 95% CI 0.56-0.88. Oura r 0.82, 95% CI 0.68-0.91). Oura was very strongly correlated (p<0.001) with Actiheart for RHR (r 0.9, 95% CI 0.85-0.96). MAPE was high for all variables except Oura sleep duration (10%), and RHR (3%) where Oura under-reported on average one beat per minute. Conclusions:Oura can potentially be used as an alternative to Actiheart to measure RHR. For sleep duration, Polar and Oura can potentially be used as a replacement for a manual sleep diary. Neither Polar nor Oura can replace ActiGraph for measuring steps, MVPA, and TEE, but may be used as an additional source of PA in some settings. Article Summary Strengths and limitations of this study Major strength is the analysis of multiple days of recordings instead of one mean measure per participant  Wide ranges of participant age, height, weight, body mass index, and gender balance  Main limitation is the use of criteria validated using gold standards, but are not themselves considered gold standard in all settings

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Polar Vantage and Oura physical activity and sleep trackers: A validation and comparison study

Henriksen

Svartdal

Grimsgaard

et al. 2020

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…First, self-selected users of activity trackers are often more physically active compared to nonusers [ 31 , 32 ]. Second, the accuracy of different activity trackers can be highly variable and the choice of activity tracker will therefore affect reported performance [ 5 , 33 , 34 ]. At the population level, the system may perform better to detect change in physical activity over time than to estimate the absolute levels of physical activity.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Consumer-Based Activity Trackers as a Tool for Physical Activity Monitoring in Epidemiological Studies During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Development and Usability Study

Henriksen¹,

Johannessen²,

Hartvigsen³

et al. 2021

JMIR Public Health Surveill

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Consumer-based physical activity trackers have increased in popularity. The widespread use of these devices and the long-term nature of the recorded data provides a valuable source of physical activity data for epidemiological research. The challenges include the large heterogeneity between activity tracker models in terms of available data types, the accuracy of recorded data, and how this data can be shared between different providers and third-party systems. Objective The aim of this study is to develop a system to record data on physical activity from different providers of consumer-based activity trackers and to examine its usability as a tool for physical activity monitoring in epidemiological research. The longitudinal nature of the data and the concurrent pandemic outbreak allowed us to show how the system can be used for surveillance of physical activity levels before, during, and after a COVID-19 lockdown. Methods We developed a system (mSpider) for automatic recording of data on physical activity from participants wearing activity trackers from Apple, Fitbit, Garmin, Oura, Polar, Samsung, and Withings, as well as trackers storing data in Google Fit and Apple Health. To test the system throughout development, we recruited 35 volunteers to wear a provided activity tracker from early 2019 and onward. In addition, we recruited 113 participants with privately owned activity trackers worn before, during, and after the COVID-19 lockdown in Norway. We examined monthly changes in the number of steps, minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, and activity energy expenditure between 2019 and 2020 using bar plots and two-sided paired sample t tests and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. Results Compared to March 2019, there was a significant reduction in mean step count and mean activity energy expenditure during the March 2020 lockdown period. The reduction in steps and activity energy expenditure was temporary, and the following monthly comparisons showed no significant change between 2019 and 2020. A small significant increase in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was observed for several monthly comparisons after the lockdown period and when comparing March-December 2019 with March-December 2020. Conclusions mSpider is a working prototype currently able to record physical activity data from providers of consumer-based activity trackers. The system was successfully used to examine changes in physical activity levels during the COVID-19 period.

show abstract

“…Steps are not only a common measure of PA that is associated with various health outcomes [ 19 , 20 ], they are also often used to derive other PA metrics (e.g., distance) [ 21 ]. A plethora of studies has investigated the validity of different CAMs for measuring steps under laboratory conditions using standardized continuous walking protocols [ 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 ]. In these studies, observed steps usually served as the criterion measure.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Validity of Consumer Activity Monitors and an Algorithm Using Smartphone Data for Measuring Steps during Different Activity Types

Hartung

Sarshar

Karle

et al. 2020

IJERPH

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Consumer activity monitors and smartphones have gained relevance for the assessment and promotion of physical activity. The aim of this study was to determine the concurrent validity of various consumer activity monitor models and smartphone models for measuring steps. Methods: Participants completed three activity protocols: (1) overground walking with three different speeds (comfortable, slow, fast), (2) activities of daily living (ADLs) focusing on arm movements, and (3) intermittent walking. Participants wore 11 activity monitors (wrist: 8; hip: 2; ankle: 1) and four smartphones (hip: 3; calf: 1). Observed steps served as the criterion measure. The mean average percentage error (MAPE) was calculated for each device and protocol. Results: Eighteen healthy adults participated in the study (age: 28.8 ± 4.9 years). MAPEs ranged from 0.3–38.2% during overground walking, 48.2–861.2% during ADLs, and 11.2–47.3% during intermittent walking. Wrist-worn activity monitors tended to misclassify arm movements as steps. Smartphone data collected at the hip, analyzed with a separate algorithm, performed either equally or even superiorly to the research-grade ActiGraph. Conclusion: This study highlights the potential of smartphones for physical activity measurement. Measurement inaccuracies during intermittent walking and arm movements should be considered when interpreting study results and choosing activity monitors for evaluation purposes.

show abstract

Review of Validity and Reliability of Garmin Activity Trackers

Cited by 63 publications

References 60 publications

Polar Vantage and Oura physical activity and sleep trackers: A validation and comparison study

Polar Vantage and Oura physical activity and sleep trackers: A validation and comparison study

Consumer-Based Activity Trackers as a Tool for Physical Activity Monitoring in Epidemiological Studies During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Development and Usability Study

Validity of Consumer Activity Monitors and an Algorithm Using Smartphone Data for Measuring Steps during Different Activity Types

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About