Compendium of Energy Expenditures for Youth
Author Information
Author(s): Kate Ridley, Barbara Ainsworth, Tim Olds
Primary Institution: Centre for the Analysis of Educational Futures, School of Education, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia
Hypothesis
The study aims to develop a compendium of energy expenditures specifically for youth to improve the accuracy of energy expenditure estimates in children and adolescents.
Conclusion
The Compendium of Energy Expenditures for Youth is useful to researchers and practitioners interested in identifying physical activity and energy expenditure values in children and adolescents in a variety of settings.
Supporting Evidence
- About 35% of the activity MET levels were derived from energy cost data measured in youth.
- The compendium includes 244 activities commonly performed by youth.
- Using adult METs to assign energy costs to children's activities can result in substantial errors.
Takeaway
This study created a list of activities that kids do and how much energy they use for each one, helping researchers understand how active children are.
Methodology
The compendium was developed by reviewing existing data on energy costs of activities performed by youth and assigning MET values based on both measured and estimated data.
Potential Biases
The use of adult MET values for children's activities may lead to substantial errors in estimating energy costs.
Limitations
Only 35% of the MET values in the compendium are based on data measured in youth, with the rest estimated from adult data, which may introduce errors.
Participant Demographics
The compendium includes activities for youth aged 6.0 to 17.9 years.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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