A SURVEY FOR ASSESSING PHYSICAL-ACTIVITY AMONG OLDER ADULTS

In 1988, the Yale Physical Activity Survey (YPAS) was designed and the n administered to healthy older populations of volunteers (aged 60-86) to establish its 2-wk repeatability and relative validity. Among the 76 volunteers in the repeatability substudy, correlation coefficients between the two administrations of the survey for the eight YPAS summa ry indices ranged from 0.42 (P = 0.0002) to 0.65 (P = 0.0001). Among t he 25 subjects in the validation substudy, weekly energy expenditure ( r = -0.47; P = 0.01) and daily hours spent sitting (r = 0.53; P = 0.01 ) correlated with resting diastolic blood pressure, while the YPAS act ivity dimensions summary index (composed of questions on vigorous acti vity, leisurely walking, moving, sitting, and standing) correlated pos itively with estimated VO2max (r = 0.58; P = 0.004) and inversely with percent body fat (r = -0.43; P = 0.03). The YPAS index of vigorous ac tivity also correlated positively with estimated VO2max (r = 0.60; P = 0.003) and the moving index correlated marginally with body mass inde x (r = -0.37; P = 0.06). We conclude that the YPAS demonstrates adequa te repeatability, and some validity by correlating with several physio logic variables reflecting habitual physical activity. The value of th e YPAS, however, in accurately assessing low intensity activity remain s to be established.