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Screening for physical inactivity in general practice: A test of diagnostic accuracy
journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-17, 07:25 authored by Tania WinzenbergTania Winzenberg, Shaw, KABackground It is unclear what is the best method of accurately identifying physically inactive patients in general practice. This study aimed to compare the performance of different methods of assessing patient physical activity levels in general practice. Method Thirteen general practitioners were randomly allocated to perform either their usual assessment, or this with a Lifescripts tool, on consecutive patients. The authors measured patients’ physical activity by accelerometer over 1 week, including steps per day, then calculated agreement, kappa specificity, sensitivity, positive and negative predictive value (PV) and ROC characteristics for each assessment method (GPs’ usual assessment, Lifescripts tool and steps per day) against the reference standard of accelerometer classification. Results Data from 29 patients was included. Agreement between subjective assessments was highest for GPs’ usual assessment (agreement 73%; kappa 0.47; p=0.03), which also gave the highest area under the ROC curve (0.75, 95% CI: 0.52–0.98). However, this still had low specificity (67%) and positive PV (63%). Using a cut-off of 7500 steps/day maximised the area under the ROC curve at 0.91 (95% CI: 0.82–1.00), 19.2% greater than GPs’ usual assessment. Conclusion Measuring steps per day may be a feasible and more effective way to screen for physically inactive patients than self report. A large scale study to confirm these results is necessary.
History
Publication title
Australian Family PhysicianVolume
40Issue
1/2Pagination
57-61ISSN
0300-8495Department/School
Menzies Institute for Medical ResearchPublisher
Royal Australian College of General PractitionersPlace of publication
AustraliaRights statement
Material published in Australian Family Physician is copyright to The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. All rights reserved.Repository Status
- Restricted