Validating the Fitbit Charge 4© wearable activity monitor for use in physical activity interventions

Alexander Waddell, Stefan Birkett, David Broom, Gordon McGregor, Amy E Harwood

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

3 Citations (Scopus)
41 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Objectives: Commercially available wearable activity monitors can promote physical activity behaviour. Clinical trials typically quantify physical activity with research grade activity monitors prior to testing interventions utilising commercially available wearable activity monitors aimed at increasing step count. Therefore, it is important to test the agreement of these two types of activity monitors.

Objectives: Observational.

Methods: Thirty adults (20–65 years, n = 19 females) were provided a Fitbit Charge 4©. To determine reliability using an intraclass correlation coefficient, two, one-minute bouts of treadmill walking were performed at a self-selected pace. Subsequently, participants wore both an ActiGraph wGT3X-BT and the Fitbit for seven days. To determine agreement, statistical equivalence and the mean absolute percentage error were calculated and represented graphically with a Bland–Altman plot. Ordinary least products regression was performed to identify fixed or proportional bias.

Results: The Fitbit showed ‘good’ step count reliability on the treadmill (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.75, 95 % CI = 0.53–0.87, p < 0.001). In free-living however, it overestimated step count when compared to the ActiGraph wGT3X-BT (mean absolute percentage error = 26.02 % ± 14.63). Measurements did not fall within the ± 10 % equivalence region and proportional bias was apparent (slope 95 % CI = 1.09–1.35).

Conclusions: The Fitbit Charge 4© is reliable when measuring step count on a treadmill. However, there is an overestimation of daily steps in free-living environments which may falsely indicate compliance with physical activity recommendations.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)314-318
Number of pages5
JournalJournal of Science and Medicine in Sport
Volume27
Issue number5
Early online date25 Jan 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - May 2024

Bibliographical note

This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Funder

Funding for this project was included as part of a fully funded PhD for the principal investigator (AW) with the Centre for Physical Activity, Sport and Exercise Sciences, Research Institute of Health and Wellbeing, Coventry University.

Keywords

  • ActiGraph
  • Accelerometer
  • Agreement
  • Reliability
  • Step count

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