A 7-DAY ACTIVITY DIARY FOR ASSESSMENT OF DAILY ENERGY-EXPENDITURE VALIDATED BY THE DOUBLY LABELED WATER METHOD IN ADOLESCENTS

Objectives: To validate the use of an activity diary and predicted BMR for assessment of daily total energy expenditure (TEE) and physical a ctivity level (PAL = TEE/BMR) in adolescents. Design: TEE and PAL esti mated from activity diary records kept for seven days and BMR predicte d from age, gender and body weight were compared with the results of d oubly labelled water (DLW) measurements and indirect calorimetry perfo rmed during the same time period. Setting: The Unit of Paediatric Phys iology of the Department of Clinical Physiology, University Hospital, Uppsala, Sweden. Subjects: Fifty randomly selected 15 y old adolescent s (25 boys and 25 girls).Results: The mean difference between TEE esti mated in all adolescents by the activity diary and by DLW methods was 1.2%. The limits of agreement (mean difference 2 s.d.) were -3.47 and 3.77 MJ/d, equivalent to a coefficient of variation of 15%. The mean d ifference between PAL assessed by activity diary records and by DLW me asurements was 0.001, and the limits of agreement between the two meth ods were 0.54. Conclusions: The results imply that the activity diary method provides a close estimate of TEE and PAL in population groups.