HEART-RATE MONITORING TO ASSESS ENERGY-EXPENDITURE IN CHILDREN WITH REDUCED PHYSICAL-ACTIVITY

The aim of the study was to assess whether heart rate (HR) monitoring is suitable to estimate energy expenditure in spastic cerebral palsied (CP) children, who are known to have very low levels of daily physica l activity. Total daily energy expenditure (TEE) predicted from HR rec ording (TEE(HR), measured over 2 or 3 d) was therefore compared with T EE measured by doubly labeled water (TEE(DLW), measured over 14 d) in nine children with spastic diplegia/tetraplegia, (mean +/- SD age 10.7 +/- 1.6 yr). At group level, there was no difference in TEE(DLW) (7.4 +/- 2.1 MJ . d(-1)) and TEE(HR) (7.4 +/- 2.2 MJ . d(-1)). Spearman co rrelation between both methods was 0.88 (P < 0.001). Individual estima tes of TEE(HR) ranged from -16.9% to +20.0%, with five TEE(HR) values within +/- 10% of TEE(DLW). It was concluded that also in children wit h low levels of daily physical activity, HR monitoring preferably 3 sa mpling days) can provide a close group estimate of energy expenditure. At the individual level, the method is not suitable.