Validation of a multi-sensor armband during free-living activity in adults with cystic fibrosis

BackgroundThe SenseWear Armband (SWA) provides simple and non-invasive measures of energy expenditure (EE) during physical activity, however its accuracy in adults with cystic fibrosis (CF) during free living physical activities has not been established.Methods26 CF adults (mean FEV1 63% predicted; 11 males) completed a series of standardised static and active tasks with simultaneous analysis of EE via the SWA and indirect calorimetry (IC).ResultsMean difference and limits of agreement between EE values from the SWA and IC across all activities were − 0.02 METs (95% CI − 1.1 to 1.1). There was moderate agreement between the two measures (ICC 0.4; 95% CI: 0 to 0.7; p = 0.03). For individual activity tasks ICC ranged from 0.1 to 0.6.ConclusionOverall, the SWA demonstrated good agreement with IC for EE estimates in CF adults during a series of free-living activities, however accuracy was variable when assessing EE for specific activities of shorter duration.