Using Activity Tracker Data for the Assessment of Physical Activity in Public Health Studies

Activity trackers are not just popular for personal wellbeing, but are also used more and more for assessing physical activity in public health studies. However, they provide data that is much richer than that from pedometers, and different from that of lab equipment. Using activity tracker data for the assessment of physical activity therefore requires different methods to address properties, limitations, and new opportunities arising from these devices. We suggest a set of measures that can be applied to a study population's activity tracker data and that give insights into compliance, distribution and intensity of physical activity, and sedentary behavior. We conclude that activity trackers are a powerful tool that can provide rich insights for the assessment of physical activity in public health studies.