Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)Efforts to encourage the medical community to prescribe exercise for disease
prevention and management have increased significantly in recent years. In patients with
obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), it is encouraging that exercise has been shown to improve
sleep efficiency, daytime sleepiness, and disease severity. However, in order to better
understand the dose-response relationship between exercise and OSA-related outcomes,
accurate and reliable methods for assessing physical activity habits are needed. Purpose:
To determine the test-retest reliability and validity of two self-report physical activity
questionnaires [Physical Activity Vital Sign (PAVS); International Physical Activity
Questionnaire-Short Form (IPAQ-SF)] in an OSA population. Methods: 39 adults with
moderate-to-severe OSA wore an accelerometer for seven consecutive days and
completed the PAVS and IPAQ-SF (twice within 10 d), along with questionnaires on
quality of life, sleepiness, and treatment adherence. Test-retest reliability was determined
using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). Criterion and construct validity were
determined using Pearson (r) and Spearman correlation coefficients (ρ), respectively.
Results: PAVS and IPAQ-SF scores were reported as total min/wk of moderate-vigorous
physical activity (MVPA). Test-retest reliability for MVPA was excellent for PAVS
(ICC = 0.982) and good for IPAQ-SF (ICC = 0.766). MVPA assessed via accelerometry
was strongly correlated with PAVS (r = 0.802) and moderately with IPAQ-SF (r =
0.569). Both PAVS and IPAQ-SF were significantly correlated with body mass index (BMI) (ρ = -0.273 and -0.268, respectively), but no other variables. Conclusions: The
PAVS and IPAQ-SF are reliable and valid PA questionnaires and may be utilized as a
tool for accurately assessing physical activity levels in OSA patients
