Estimation of daily inhalation rate in preschool children using a tri-axial accelerometer: a pilot study

The activity of 5- to 6-year-old Japanese children (n = 29) was monitored for 3 consecutive days, including one weekend day, using an ActivTracer tri-axial accelerometer. The daily inhalation rate and time spent in sedentary, light, or moderate to vigorous levels of physical activity (MVPA) were estimated from the accelerometer measurements based on previously developed regression equations. The 3-day mean daily inhalation rate (STPD) was estimated at 8.3 ± 1.4 m³ day⁻¹ in 10 subjects who completed 3 days of monitoring. The time spent in sedentary, light, or MVPA each day was 320, 415, and 81 min day⁻¹, respectively. Analysis of between-day reliability indicated that 3 days of monitoring with the ActivTracer tri-axial accelerometer provided an acceptable estimate of daily inhalation rate (intra-class correlation coefficient [ICC] = 0.892), but low to moderate reliability for the time spent in different levels of activities (ICC = 0.43 to 0.58). We observed a significant difference in the daily inhalation rate between weekdays and the weekend day, possibly due to differences in time spent in MVPA. This finding suggests that a weekend day should be included to obtain more reliable estimates of daily inhalation rate using an accelerometer.