Criterion-related validity of the short International Physical Activity Questionnaire against exercise capacity in young adults

Background Self-reported physical activity (PA) is well associated with cardiorespiratory fitness and exercise capacity. The short International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ-short) is a frequently used instrument for cross-national assessments of PA in adults. The purpose of this study was to validate IPAQ-short against exercise capacity in Greek young adults.

Design and methods One hundred and thirteen men and 105 women, aged 20-29 years, were randomly selected from a larger population of young health-science students. A Greek version of IPAQ-short (IPAQ-Gr) was administered to all participants before their exercise capacity evaluation with a maximal Bruce treadmill test. Multiple regression and correlation analyses were used to examine the associations between all IPAQ-Gr outcomes with exercise capacity based on maximal treadmill time.

Results Spearman's correlations for total and vigorous PA against maximal treadmill time were significant in all groups examined, ranging from 0.35 to 0.43. Moderate and walking PA correlations were poor and nonsignificant, ranging from near-zero values to 0.19. In multiple linear regression analysis, only sex, smoking, and vigorous PA from all personal and log-transformed IPAQ-Gr data were significantly associated with maximal treadmill time. Partial correlation analysis for the overall population, adjusted for sex and smoking, showed that total PA (r = 0.37) and vigorous PA (r = 0.47) were significantly associated with exercise capacity.

Conclusion IPAQ-Gr was tested against exercise capacity and showed acceptable validity properties in Greek young adults. Total and vigorous weekly PA expenditure were well associated with exercise capacity, presenting significant validity correlations against maximal treadmill time.