The Cut-Off Value for Classifying Active Italian Children Using the Corresponding National Version of the Physical Activity Questionnaire

• Main Authors: Corrado Lupo (Author), Gennaro Boccia (Author), Alexandru Nicolae Ungureanu (Author), Anna Mulasso (Author), Paolo De Pasquale (Author), Annamaria Mancini (Author), Pasqualina Buono (Author), Alberto Rainoldi (Author), Paolo Riccardo Brustio (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: MDPI AG, 2022-04-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 10.3390/sports10040061; 2075-4663
• Keywords: active children; non-active children; physical activity; PAQ-C; moderate-vigorous activity; ROC scales; Sports; GV557-1198.995
• Source: Sports, Vol 10, Iss 4, p 61 (2022)

The present study aimed to determine a cut-off value following the filling in of a questionnaire (PAQ-C-It) to identify active Italian children. One-hundred-twenty-nine primary school children (5 Piedmont schools; 47.3% female; mean age = 10 ± 1 years) wore an accelerometer (Actigraph wGT3X-BT) to objectively quantify individual moderate-to-vigorous physical activity during one week. Afterwards, the PAQ-C-It was filled in by participants. A ROC curve procedure was applied to obtain an active/non-active cut-off point. Spearman's correlation coefficient was also applied to establish the relationship between the two parameters. According to the ROC analysis, the PAQ-C-It cut-off point value is identifiable at >2.75 to indicate active children (area under the curve = 0.62; standard error = 0.05; <i>p</i> = 0.025; coefficient intervals = 0.518-0.716; sensitivity = 0.592, specificity = 0.382), determining that 65 participants (55%) were non-active (mean PAQ-C-It value = 2.3 ± 0.4; active mean PAQ-C-It value = 3.3 ± 0.4). Spearman's correlation coefficient results were significant but with a small effect size (rho = 0.214; <i>p</i> = 0.008). In conclusion, the present results suggest that the PAQ-C-It can be cautiously used as tool to practically classify active Italian children because of a non-solid relationship between respective accelerometer data and MVPA daily data.