Reliability and validity of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire-Short Form for older adults in Vietnam

Issues addressed: The International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ) was developed as a global standard questionnaire to monitor physical activity across diverse populations. In Vietnam, the IPAQ-Short Form (SF) has only been tested for reliability and validity among adolescents. The present study determined test-retest reliability and criterion validity of the IPAQ-SF for older Vietnamese adults aged 60-75 years. Methods: In all, 197 participants were recruited from the community. Subjects were requested to wear a pedometer, record daily steps and list all physical activities in a log-book for 7 consecutive days. Those who completed the requirements were interviewed using the IPAQ-SF (IPAQ1). A repeated interview was arranged 3 days later (IPAQ2). Results: The final sample consisted of 150 participants (75 men, 75 women) with mean (+/- s.d.) age of 66.8 +/- 5.1 years. The intraclass correlation coefficients between IPAQ1 and IPAQ2 exceeded 0.80 for all physical activity domains and sitting, indicating good reliability. However, fair to weak validity was evident between IPAQ1 measures and activity log and pedometer readings, with Spearman correlations of 0.46 and 0.20, respectively. Conclusions: The Vietnamese translated version of IPAQ-SF appears to be a reliable and reasonably valid instrument to assess and monitor habitual physical activity for older adults in Vietnam. So what? The IPAQ-SF could provide useful physical activity data to evaluate the effectiveness of health promotion intervention programs and for international comparison purposes.