Objectively measured absolute and relative physical activity intensity levels in postmenopausal women.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate how objectively measured physical activity (PA) levels differ according to absolute moderate intensity recommendation (3-6 METs) and relative to individual lactate thresholds (LT1 and LT2), and to verify if high-fit women record higher PA levels compared to women with lower aerobic fitness.

METHODS: Seventy-five postmenopausal women performed an incremental exercise test and several constant-velocity tests wearing an accelerometer to identify the activity counts (ct min-1 ) corresponding to LT1 and LT2. Individual linear regression determined activity counts cut-points for each intensity: (1) sedentary (<200 ct min-1 ), (2) light (from 200 ct min-1 to ct min-1 at LT1), (3) moderate (ct min-1 between LT1 and LT2) and (4) vigorous (ct min-1  > LT2). Participants then wore an accelerometer during a week to measure the time spent at each PA intensity level.

RESULTS: According to absolute intensity categorisation, high-fit postmenopausal women recorded twice as much time at moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) (P < 0.01) than low-fit women. However, when PA intensity was calculated relative to individual lactate thresholds, MVPA was significantly reduced by half (P < 0.01) and the data revealed no differences (P = 0.62) between groups (∼20 min day-1 at MVPA).

CONCLUSIONS: Accelerometer cut-points derived from absolute moderate-intensity recommendations overestimated MVPA. Similar time at MVPA was recorded by high- and low-fit postmenopausal women when the cut-points were tailored to individual lactate thresholds. A more accurate estimation of PA behaviour could be provided with the use of individually tailored accelerometer cut-points.