ArticleAmerican journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council2022
Objective and subjective measurement of sedentary behavior in human adults: A toolkit.
Article in American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 34 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
34 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 61 citations in OpenAlex.
- Does sedentary behaviour cause spinal pain in children and adolescents? A systematic review with meta-analysis.British journal of sports medicine · 2025Pooled it
- The use of sequential multiple assignment randomized trials (SMARTs) in physical activity interventions: a systematic review.BMC medical research methodology · 2024Pooled it
- Impact of Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior on Spontaneous Female and Male Fertility: A Systematic Review.Journal of physical activity & health · 2023Pooled it
- Accuracy and Precision of Consumer-Grade Wearable Activity Monitors for Assessing Time Spent in Sedentary Behavior in Children and Adolescents: Systematic Review.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2022Pooled it
- A Standardised Core Outcome Set for Measurement and Reporting Sedentary Behaviour Interventional Research: The CROSBI Consensus Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Impact of prehabilitation on objectively measured physical activity levels in elective surgery patients: a systematic review.BMJ open · 2021Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Objectively Assessing the Effect of a Messenger-based Intervention to Reduce Sedentary Behavior in University Students: A Pilot Study.Journal of prevention (2022) · 2023Trial
- Trial
- Associations between accelerometer-assessed occupational and leisure-time sitting and self-reported cognitive dysfunction in Swedish middle-aged adults: a cross-sectional analysis from the SCAPIS study.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Contemporary concepts in 'exercise as medicine' and related fields.Experimental physiology · 2026Article
- Healthcare professionals' practices and barriers in assessing and promoting physical activity in primary care: a descriptive study.BMC primary care · 2025Article
- Factors associated with bone health in long distance runners: a cross-sectional study.Osteoporosis international : a journal established as result of cooperation between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA · 2025Article
- Use of accelerometry to measure the impact of remifentanil on sleep after mitral valve repair surgery.British journal of anaesthesia · 2025Article
- Association of sitting time with cardiovascular events among manual and non-manual workers: a prospective cohort study (PURE-China).BMC public health · 2025Article
- Development of an eHealth Intervention Including Self-Management for Reducing Sedentary Time in the Transition to Retirement: Participatory Design Study.JMIR formative research · 2025Article
- Enabling Older Adults to Provide High-quality Activity Labels: Unpacking Accuracy, Precision, and Granularity in Activity Labeling.Proceedings of the ACM on interactive, mobile, wearable and ubiquitous technologies · 2025Article
- Substituting time spent in physical activity and sedentary time and its association with cardiovascular disease among northwest Chinese adults.Preventive medicine reports · 2025Article
- Quantifying Physical Activity and Sedentary Behavior in Adults with Intellectual Disability: A Scoping Review of Assessment Methodologies.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Associations of Cognitively Active Versus Passive Sedentary Behaviors and Cognition in Older Adults.Journal of physical activity & health · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesObjectives: Human biologists are increasingly interested in measuring and comparing physical activities in different societies. Sedentary behavior, which refers to time spent sitting or lying down while awake, is a large component of daily 24 hours movement patterns in humans and has been linked to poor health outcomes such as risk of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, independently of physical activity. As such, it is important for researchers, with the aim of measuring human movement patterns, to most effectively use resources available to them to capture sedentary behavior.
methodsThis toolkit outlines objective (device-based) and subjective (self-report) methods for measuring sedentary behavior in free-living contexts, the benefits and drawbacks to each, as well as novel options for combined use to maximize scientific rigor. Throughout this toolkit, emphasis is placed on considerations for the use of these methods in various field conditions and in varying cultural contexts.
resultsObjective measures such as inclinometers are the gold-standard for measuring total sedentary time but they typically cannot capture contextual information or determine which specific behaviors are taking place. Subjective measures such as questionnaires and 24 hours-recall methods can provide measurements of time spent in specific sedentary behaviors but are subject to measurement error and response bias.
conclusionsWe recommend that researchers use the method(s) that suit the research question; inclinometers are recommended for the measurement of total sedentary time, while self-report methods are recommended for measuring time spent in particular contexts of sedentary behavior.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.